Price of a Jedi
by Space Cowgirl
Summary: This alternate reality tale is a continuation of the Young Jedi Knights series. Leia is kidnapped by forces unknown, and Jaina and Zekk find an ancient dark side power that makes Jaina tunr to evil...


__

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters created by George Lucas or the 'Star Wars' book writers, and I'm not doing this for profit. (I'm doing it 'cause I have no life.) 

A Word About The Storyline

'Price of a Jedi'_ takes place soon after Jaina's adventures in the book _'Vector Prime'. _This alternate reality ignores the other books in the _'New Jedi Order' _series, and Chewbacca is still alive._ _The references to running the asteroid belt refer to the asteroid belt game Lando Calrissian runs from the planet Destrillion, where pilots can test their skill in specially shielded TIE fighters. The longer you stay in the belt, the better you do. Jaina beat out two Jedi Knights, including Kyp Durron, to be the record holder. _

The references to the Yuuzahn Yong race refer to the extra-galactic invaders, who used completely natural devices to wage war against the New Republic and the galaxy in general. They were partially defeated with Jaina, Jacen and Anakin's help.

Jaina and her brothers have left the Jedi academy in 'Vector Prime'_, their training to be completed in a one-on-one setting, master and apprentice, with Luke Skywalker, and, in Jaina's case, his new wife, Mara Jade Skywalker. Mara is battling a disease given to her by the Yuuzahn Vong, but she seems to be winning the fight. The Jedi are growing powerful once again, their numbers over a hundred, and Luke is toying with the idea of re-establishing the Jedi Council…if the meddling new Chief of State, Bothan Borsk Fey'lya, will let him. _

Leia Organa Solo is the New Republic's most powerful and well-liked ambassador. Anakin has built his lightsaber, and all three Solo children are on their way to becoming powerful Jedi Knights.

Price of a Jedi

****

The night was quiet and peaceful. The night was always quiet and peaceful. Stars shone, and a breeze ruffled the fertile fields and ancient forests. The night was perfect—but then, nights were always perfect on Onderon, which advertised itself as the most perfect planet in the galaxy. There was nothing in the air to indicate a crime of galactic importance was about to happen. 

Onderon, plagued for many thousands of years by civil war and Sith magic, on and off, was now a purely agricultural world. It had undergone a drastic reconstruction in the twelve or so past years, declaring itself neutral in all galactic affairs. There were small, quaint, towns place every few hundred kilometers and three medium-sized cities that had been carved out of the former single, giant metropolis. Onderon's self-image had been restored to one of complete peace and boring perfection. 

It was in walled Old Iziz that the imperfect scourge of crime was about to strike. 

The New Republic embassy was closed for the night, its windows opaqued, lights off and security systems on. There was no one in the perfectly clean street; the Onderon curfew was ten p.m. Coordinated Galactic Time. The three men gliding silently from shadow to shadow, however, didn't obey curfews. They reached the embassy, and slipped down the adjoining alley—precisely two meters wide, as were all Onderon alleys, and not a speck of garbage. One of the trio took a lock-breaker, a highly illegal device, form his breast pocket. The lock-breaker could persuade almost any computerized lock to open.

It had no trouble with the service droid entrance of the embassy. 

"Security standards ain't what they used to be," sniggered one man. He earned a glare from his leader, and fell silent.

The door slid open silently. Moving like Defel wraiths, the vandals crept down the spotless hallways with professional efficiency. One found the room full of computers that held New Republic records. He took out his convenience-sized vibroblade and meticulously made three slashes through every memory drive, ruining them. There was no anger, no aggression in his movements. This was simply a job he was used to doing. 

The second man, dodging motion detectors, moved into the interspecies lounge, which held food prep units, freshers, and atmospheric chambers designed for dozens of different life forms. He tiptoed carefully among them, destroying a methane chamber and an Ithorian food prep unit, but leaving a Sullustan music kiosk and a hydrogen chamber untouched. _There._

The third man, who blended in with shadows easily as breathing, moved quickly, faster than the others did, taking the lift tube to the basement. His task was the most difficult, but if he failed there would be bad trouble. Failure was not a concept to him, though. Not now, not ever. 

He walked without worry across the miniature hangar bay that held a variety of landspeeders—minimal emissions, of course. Onderon was non-polluted. Into a smaller room that held the controls for the entire building. He also had a vibroblade, and, working carefully stripped off the plasticene coating on the alarm wire and spliced it neatly with another, neutralizing the alarm. Then he cut the security holocams and motion detectors to make it easier for them to get out. He checked his chronometer. This end of the operation had taken one minute and twenty-six seconds. Not bad. 

He went up to the service entrance to wait for his two companions. They rejoined him two minutes and three seconds later. 

The three men slipped out of the New Republic embassy and closed the door behind them, making no more disturbance than when they'd entered. 

CHAPTER

1

****

The warrior girl tossed her head defiantly, her red braids flipping over her shoulder, her gray eyes hard. The suit of green lizard hide she wore gleamed in the morning sun and her knee-high boots, made of the same scaly skin, encased muscular calves and feet that were planted firmly on the ground. She had only a right arm—the other was gone above the elbow. Her good limb held a handle made from a rancor tooth, intricately carved and scrimshawed with traditional Dathomirian designs. A glowing turquoise energy beam protruded from the handle. A lightsaber. The deadliest weapon in the galaxy. The weapon of a Jedi. 

The girl, looking like a gladiator from an adventure holovid, adjusted her balance, muscles rippling. There wasn't a spare ounce of fat on her body. Her stance was flawless. She was deadly.

Her opponent had short brown hair tied back with a spare piece of super-thin conductor wiring, lively brown eyes and a physique no warrior would envy. Not fat, but no Galactic Dancing Girl contender either. She was wearing a brown jumpsuit with a laden tool belt and spacer's boots, all slightly worn, like those of any smuggler or legit out-of-work cargo hauler. Her smile, roughish and one-sided, suggested the former. The electric violet lightsaber she held suggested you think again. "Well, come on, Tenel Ka," she said. "What are you waiting for?" Tenel Ka brought her weapon down in a slash, and Jaina Solo, oldest child of the most famed politician and the most notorious smuggler in the galaxy, parried with her blade. Its handle, while not nearly as intricate or lovely as Tenel Ka's, was beautiful in its own way, silver and streamlined and put together perfectly. It should be. Mechanical ventures of Jaina's were usually perfect. The lightsaber felt good in her hands, like she was invincible. 

Tenel Ka abruptly broke her fantasy as she attacked from the other side. If Jaina had not blocked the blow it would have sliced her in two. But she did block it. Tenel Ka was strong, incredibly fast, and showed an opponent—even a practice one—no mercy. She had been raised on primitive Dathomir, where fighting ability and strength sometimes determined the difference between life and death. But Tenel Ka fought seriously, with her whole mind, anticipating five, sometimes even six or seven blocks and lunges ahead. That was her weakness. She was so…predictable. Jaina, on the other hand, preferred to see what her enemy was doing and then counterattack with her own lightning-fast reflexes. 

Jaina and Tenel Ka were both Jedi Knights, trained at Luke Skywalker's Jedi academy, which stood behind them, a massive ziggurat temple made from gray, mossy stone, on the moon of Yavin 4. Now Jaina took a bit of her mind away from the practice duel and sent out a tiny probe through the Force, imperceptibly infiltrating Tenel Ka's mind. She saw…yes…Tenel Ka was going to come with a downward diagonal cut. 

Jaina snapped her lightsaber up and parried the blow perfectly. Tenel Ka, who had taken her stillness for distraction, was quite surprised. She tried another right-handed swing. Jaina parried, then decided it was a good time to attack, and slashed at Tenel Ka's shoulder. Tenel Ka blocked her—barely. Jaina was surprised. Tenel Ka was a much better fighter than Jaina. Or was she? Jaina had grown so used to the labels that she, Tenel Ka, and her twin brother Jacen had earned in their time at the academy. She was The Pilot. She was a top-notch starship pilot, and liked to brag that she could repair anything that flew. She normally piloted the ship that Tenel Ka technically owned; a Hapan passenger cruiser called the_ Rock Dragon_, or her uncle's and aunt Mara Jade Skywalker's custom-built shuttle, the _Jedi Saber_. They were large ships, sometimes a little clumsy, but both had excellent weapons systems and many modifications that made them ideal Jedi craft. 

Jacen preferred communicating with living things to computers and hyperdrives. He could talk to animals through the Force, and he had a large, diverse menagerie in his room. Jaina had built most of their cages herself. But the menagerie had mostly been released back into the jungles, or donated to an exotic species zoo on Coruscant. Jacen and Jaina were in fact leaving the Jedi academy, only here to pack up the last of their things, and when Tenel Ka had suggested a last practice duel Jaina couldn't resist. 

Tenel Ka was the Warrior, the Fighter, the Strategist, whose coolness and collectedness could always be relied upon to get them out of a sticky situation. 

Jaina saw a dark-haired figure appear in the mouth of the pyramid's hangar bay. Zekk, another close friend—closer than most. Zekk was…well; she wasn't sure what Zekk was. Zekk was not a person to whom labels and stereotypes attached themselves easily. Zekk _had_ been training to be a bounty hunter, but had given it up in favor of Jedi instruction. He was gifted with a huge amount of Force ability, so even though he had started far later then Jaina and the rest of the trainees their age, he was quite even with them in terms of skill. Jaina craned her neck to see if he was wearing his lightsaber. Yes, the plain black metal handle hung from his belt. Jaina had never seen him so proud of a device he had constructed. 

Zekk leaned against one of the temple's enormous foundation blocks and shut his deep emerald eyes against the sun. His pale oval face suggested nothing but complete calm. But even when enjoying a bright Yavin morning Zekk radiated intenseness. The set of his chin, the tight way he crossed his arms over his chest, could tell a careful observer there was more to him than met the eye. True. The Shadow Academy, a training station for the dark side of the Force, had kidnapped Zekk to turn him into a Dark Jedi. He had almost been lost to them forever. 

When the Shadow Academy had attacked Yavin 4, Jaina and Zekk had battled fiercely. Well, Zekk had. Jaina had held back, still unable to believe that the boy who had once been her best friend could want to kill her. Before they could finish, however, an Imperial saboteur had set off an explosion inside the Great Temple, sending a rain of shrapnel down on the combatants. One of the larger pieces had hit Zekk on the head. He had hug in a coma for almost a standard week, and then had woken. Shaken, but wiser, and ready to accept the light side of the Force. 

Zekk opened his eyes and watched Jaina and Tenel Ka battle for a moment, his mouth quirking into a smile when he saw how good Jaina was doing. Jaina felt rather pleased when Zekk was watching her in this peak condition. Then she hastily reminded herself that she'd be pleased if anyone was watching her. But, still, Zekk was special…

Tenel Ka snapped off her lightsaber. 

"Jaina my friend," she said, "you're not concentrating."

"Oh. Sorry, Tenel Ka," said Jaina. She ran a hand over her cheek to wipe the sweat away and turned off her own lightsaber, reattaching it to her belt. Zekk had been the major occupier of hr thoughts for almost a month now. She really didn't know where she stood with him. He was her _friend_…but sometimes she wondered if he weren't something more…

That night Jaina sat in her room in the Jedi Academy. She was staring at a hydrospanner. She had been staring at it for the past ten minutes. She was thinking about Zekk again. She was thinking about a lot of things. Jacen and Tenel Ka had been almost insufferable at the dinner table. Not that they had actually deigned to eat a farewell dinner with Jaina, Zekk, and trainees Lowbacca, Raynar Thul and Lusa, Raynar's… Jaina rubbed her temples with her fingers. That was _another _problem. Raynar and Lusa weren't _friends_ either, but—oh, she didn't know. She leaned back on her pallet and tried to remember the last time she felt so confused. Jacen and Tenel Ka had sat at a tiny corner table by themselves, talking in low voices, leaning in close. Tenel Ka was serious as always, but Jaina had sensed she was enjoying the close contact with Jacen. _Of course she was,_ Jaina thought. This whole thing had begun last year. No, Jaina said herself; it had begun the day Tenel Ka arrived at the Jedi academy. Jacen had had a huge crush on the warrior girl ever since they had begun their training at thirteen, and until almost two years later she had never reciprocated his advances. But suddenly, everything changed between them. They sat close to each other, and giggled over secret jokes. Jaina and Lowbacca had noticed them returning from late night 'exercise' in the jungle, with Jacen's jumpsuit just a bit to rumpled, and a few too many sticks and leaves clinging to Tenel Ka's warrior braids. And since Jacen and Jaina had left the academy months ago to begin one-on-one training with Luke and Mara respectively—more like the old way of training Jedi, something Jacen constantly harped about, Tenel Ka had missed him a great deal. Jacen had changed a lot in those months, from the happy-go-lucky, somewhat absent minded animal lover that Jaina had always known to a serious and philosophical Jedi Knight-to-be. Tenel Ka had commented on this to Jaina, and also confided she liked this new facet of Jacen's personality. Jaina didn't know why she should object—she was glad Jacen had found someone so special. And then there were Raynar and Lusa, who made absolutely no secret of their feelings for each other. Jaina bluntly told herself she was jealous the Tenel Ka and Lusa had boyfriends and she didn't. Then again, if she was going to act as ridiculous as her brother acted, maybe it was a good thing. But Jaina couldn't stand it. She was sixteen, not exactly to young to be attached, and sometimes it seemed like she was the only one who was single in the whole darned galaxy. Her mother had her father, Raynar had Lusa, Jacen had Tenel Ka—even Lowbacca. He had a _fiancée, _for crying out loud. _Well, _thought Jaina, _I'm not really alone. But I'm sure as heck not in a _relationship. 

The status of Jaina's association with Zekk had undergone several drastic shifts back and forth in the past weeks. Jaina would never forget the night it all started, on Coruscant. Jaina, Jacen and their parents had just returned from putting down the Yuuzahn Yong invasion, and as a celebration, Leia had invited the twin's friends from the academy for a small get together…

As Jaina remembered it, the nightly auroras of Coruscant's atmosphere had been particularly beautiful that evening, but the palace district of the planet was to brightly lit to get much out of the display. Jaina and Zekk realized this fact only after they had taken a turbolift to a high balcony of Jaina's parent's new apartment building. Zekk pointed out that even though they couldn't see the atmospheric reflections, the lit-up district was beautiful. Jaina had to agree that the patchwork of the cityscape was almost as lovely as any constellation. Leaning on the railing, she'd been aware that Zekk's black-clad arm had been very close to hers. She'd stood up, to turn to him and say something, and he had stood up at the same time. They were only centimeters apart. The closest Jaina had ever gotten to Zekk, except for the occasional friendly hug or teasing peck on the cheek. Zekk put his hands on her shoulders then slid them to the back of her neck, so he was holding her in a light embrace. Jaina's heart had been pounding as if she were in the middle of a space battle, and she realized just how much she missed being around the dark haired boy. Tentatively but inexorably, her arms rose to return the clasp. Zekk bent toward her and smiled a slow, tender smile, his lips no more than a single centimeter from hers. Jaina felt a surge of the Force, like a powerful electric jolt. All the friendship she'd ever felt for Zekk, all the worry, and all the sadness, crystallized into one powerful, unidentifiable emotion. Their mouths had moved together like supercharged magnets. This would be no casual touch of lip to cheek between friends. This was real. Almost touching…and the balcony door whooshed open. Jaina jumped away from Zekk with a guilty start. It was Anakin, coming to see the reflections.

At fifteen, Anakin, Jaina's youngest brother, was very perceptive, more than Jaina wished at times like this. Her annoyance was mixed with relief that it wasn't her mother or father. There would have been many questions—'So, you have feelings for Zekk?'—and the perfunctory lecture—'We know you're very mature, Jaina, but…' Better to put up with Anakin's teasing.

Anakin gave them a shrewd look and raised one eyebrow, his cool blue eyes taking in the balcony scene. Jaina had smiled innocently, glad, in the dark, that Anakin couldn't see her face flushing to a guilty red. Zekk, not fazed in the least, straightened his black ponytail and said, "Well, no reflections tonight. Sorry." Anakin gave him a mocking smile and went back inside. 

Just before he went back to the turbolift, Zekk gave a tiny wink that only Jaina could see, and a killer we'll-finish-this-later smile. Jaina felt faint.

But that was as close as they'd ever come. The next morning Zekk greeted her in his usual restrained fashion. She wasn't able to take her eyes off him all through morning meal, despite Anakin's taunting looks and he and Jacen arguing about proper Jedi training. As usual. But Jaina felt like her life had been flipped upside down, and she was floating on a dream woven-cloud. She kept imagining the moment of last night, stealing looks into Zekk's eyes to see if she could coax a special acknowledgement of the historic moment. In the following days, she kept searching, and was frustrated. Zekk had repaired to his emotional fortress and showed no signs of lowering the drawbridge again. Jaina felt an incredibly strong ardor for Zekk—he was a powerful Jedi and excellent pilot, not to mention his brooding good looks. So silly; she was thinking like an airhead princess. She would not act moony. She would show the same emotion to Zekk as she always had. Vader's lightsaber she would. Maybe trying not to stammer and giggle whenever he spoke to her was an acceptable goal. 

Jaina finally stopped anticipating the touch or the look that would confirm all her wonders and doubts. Much as it pained her, she wrote off the incident on the balcony to hormones—or something. How could she have been so certainly in love when she was a total novice in the field? She'd never come _close_ to love. 

Her mother had been only eighteen when she'd met Han Solo, so she asked her about the muddled cluster of feeling playing tug-the-cord inside her. Leia Organa Solo had given the question some serious thought and then said, "It was like nothing I'd ever felt before, Jaina. Like all the forces in the universe were pulling me towards him. I thought he was the most wonderful, the most beautiful person imaginable. It was an amazing, scary, absolutely exhilarating ride Up, down, back to front. Love is, without a doubt, the most complex and extraordinary emotion there is." Leia cocked her head. "Why? Do you think you're in love?" Jaina felt her cheeks flush again, quickly denied it. This was not something she could reveal to her mother—not yet.

Jaina checked her chronometer. It was late. She rolled over and hit the switch to extinguish the glowpanels, pulled the blanket over her and lay back on her bed pallet. Sleep might bring a dream, where she and Zekk could continue uninterrupted…

****

Boba Fett landed his ship on a flat stone outcropping on the windswept world of Flar. He extended the boarding ramp of the _Slave IV_ and stepped out; impervious to the winds so strong they sometimes required a breathing mask. Boba Fett's Mandalorian armor protected him from all elements of weather. He was here to meet a man who called himself only Mr. Dark. Boba Fett found his code name ridiculous. But his not to question why. His only to find the bounty. His practiced ears, enhanced by audio pickups in his helmet, detected a roar overhead and behind him. Another ship making a low landing approach. The noise yawed a bit, and Boba Fett's analytical mind processed and utilized the information. Not the best of pilots, this other. Fett turned and saw a battered hulk settle to ground, swaying from side to side. Its landing had been on a much lower and more un-level outcropping. Fett did a preliminary check of the landing area, and the surrounding landscape. The landing pads were natural formations on the wall of an enormous crater, maybe a kilometer and a half from one side to the other. Meteors had obviously slammed tiny Flar for years after it came into being, generating a ravaged, dismal planetary surface that supported no life and a thin atmosphere. The oxygen respirators in Boba Fett's helmet kicked in to punctuate this fact. 

There was no activity in the other ship. The pilot was taking his time, trying to appear unconcerned. One of the oldest intimidation ploys there was. Boba Fett was peeved. He had not been told that there would be another in on this meeting. He knew it wasn't his client; he had been given specific instructions and coordinates for the meeting place. He checked the chronometer built into his arm plate. There was time yet. He would stick around and find out who was in the other ship. Boba Fett hated surprises almost as much as he hated fools.

The ramp finally extended. Boba Fett immediately recognized who it was. The other man was thick and tall, and walked with a cocky swagger that made the ends of the rags that wrapped his head and most of his face flap about his neck. Dengar. Dengar was a bounty hunter, a good one. Boba Fett felt a small modicum of respect for the man, but found his bullish reasoning and lack of finesse contemptible. He had been made into what he was. He was not genuine. Imperials had replaced Dengar's hypothalamus with machinery, leaving him a low-intelligence machine with one urge—killing. An assassin droid could do the same work as Dengar, and had none of the temper. Contemptible. Dengar canvassed the area. He made a quick circle on his heel, his blaster rifle—battered but serviceable, like Dengar himself, at the ready. Boba Fett snorted when Dengar didn't even look up until he detected the _Slave IV_ in out of the corner of his eye. Then his large head snapped up and his body stiffened. He raised his rifle, clumsy but quick. Boba Fett leisurely checked his wrist lasers. The charge was full. His jetpack thrusters were primed, the BlasTech EE-3 rifle he carried on his back was always ready, and his concussion grenade launcher had an explosive jacked into it. Dengar could do him no harm. 

He was trying to locate Boba Fett; the bounty hunter could see Dengar's eyes rolling back and forth in his head. Boba Fett took the offensive. He stepped out from behind the _Slave IV_ and stood with his blaster pointed loosely in Dengar's direction. Dengar took up a firing posture when he saw the helmeted man. Boba Fett checked his chronometer again. He needed to hurry this up if he was going to meet Mr. Dark on time. He activated his jetpack thrusters to their lowest setting and drifted gently down, his boots hitting the ground two meters away from Dengar. Dengar's rifle had followed his trajectory carefully. Boba Fett betrayed no emotion, keeping his body relaxed, and his expression, shielded as it was behind his opaque view slit, neutral. He wondered in passing how many beings in the galaxy had ever seen his face. A fair number before he put on this armor…but not many since. 

Boba Fett raised a gloved hand in a curt greeting. "Dengar." Dengar cocked his head back and gauged him, finally deciding that Boba Fett was not going to attack. Nor should he try it. 

"Fett," he said. "What are you doing here?"

"The same as you, I imagine," said Boba Fett coldly. "Sixteen hundred CGT, standardized coordinates fifty-one decimal six slash niner decimal seventy-two."

Dengar raised his eyebrows—or the muscles above his eyes. Boba Fett didn't know if he had the actual facial hair. 

"Mr. Dark," said the scarred man.

"Indeed," said Boba Fett. 

"Bounty should be good," said Dengar, shouldering his blaster rifle and deciding to be friendly. "His name is sure fierce." Boba Fett inclined his head.

"It struck me as rather…excessive." Dengar shrugged. 

"Whatever." He turned and began to climb down the rocky outcropping. There was a good ten-meter drop before he could reach another plateau and clamber to the floor of the crater. Boba Fett annoyed him by igniting his jetpack and getting down in five seconds. He carefully and quickly made his way down to the crater floor, not looking to see if Dengar was following. 

Boba Fett strode precisely to the specified location and stopped. There was nothing here. How odd. He immediately suspected a trap, and scrolled quickly through the list of the beings that would have the ways and means to kill him in this situation. 

He heard a whine from behind him and turned to find a beat-up, medium-sized landspeeder coming to a stop. The front bumper almost clipped him on the knees. Boba Fett was tempted to inquire if the driver had pulled his license out of a food-prep unit. He walked over to the driver's side and stood, not speaking. The pilot of the speeder wore a black bandanna over his nose and mouth and a wrap-around sunshade with inscrutable lenses. He gave a brief nod.

"Boba Fett. Hop in." Boba Fett heard Dengar huffing and puffing as he caught up. The driver gave him a military nod also. "Dengar." Then he jerked his hand with a touch of impatience. "In, both of you. We're wasting time." Boba Fett put a hand on the land speeder, next to the man's arm. 

"You do not give a bounty hunter orders," he said rigidly. The man looked at him with what might have been an incredulous expression. 

"Yeah, sure." Boba Fett paid no attention to his rudeness. He had used the jab simply to gauge him. Stolid, aggressive, unlikely to break down or quit in a fight. Ruthless, willing to do whatever was needed. Probably a second-in-command or close henchman of Mr. Dark. Boba Fett got into the back seat of the landspeeder, forcing Dengar to sit in the front. Let him squirm. The driver gunned the engines and roared away, zigzagging recklessly between the juts of rock that thrust like spears arrested in mid-throw from the crater floor. When they were two hundred meters away from the opposite rim, with the engines still going at top power, Boba Fett could see Dengar begin to fidget nervously. Fifty meters…twenty-five…at ten meters he became mildly interested in what the driver was going to do when he reached the crater wall. They _did_ reach the wall—and passed right through it. An extremely good holographic projection. Unless you were right next to it, and paying close attention, it looked for all the galaxy like solid rock. 

Inside the projection, a construction project seemed to be underway. Massive beams and blocks of duracrete were stacked every where, and the superstructure of a large fortress was going up. The henchmen piloted the speeder through this maze and passed through an oversized door that shut tight in a durasteel wall. 

The man stopped the landspeeder without a word. Boba Fett got out. They were in a huge room, mostly in darkness. A smaller door opened just to Boba Fett's left. Another guard with an identical bandanna and sunshade stepped out. Boba Fett walked past him into the room, Dengar following close behind, apparently deciding that whatever the other man did was a good idea. This irritated Boba Fett no end. 

The guard shut the door behind Dengar and stood in front of it. A man who could only be Mr. Dark occupied a plain cast-plast desk and chair in the center of the tiny room. His clipped hair was in keeping with his name—and that was all Boba Fett could see of his face. Mr. Dark wore a black mask over his visage that was equipped with a voice synthesizer. The semi-opaque eyeshields in the mask did nothing to hide the searing, unwavering gaze of dusky eyes. It was all Boba Fett needed to see. Mr. Dark's every indicator read _don't mess with me, or you'll pay_. 

He nodded at both bounty hunters. "Fett. Den-gar." The voice synth had a slight drag, making each syllable come out separately. Boba Fett got to the point. 

"You have a job. Who is it?"

"I-will-not-dis-cuss-that-with-you," said Mr. Dark. "You-will-each-re-cive-a-ho-lo-cube-with-the-ass-ign-ment." He nodded to the mute guard, who came forward and placed two holocubes on the desk. "These-ho-lo-cubes-are-sec-ure. You-will-get-an-acc-ess-card-that-may-be-used-on-ly-once. Aft-er-that-the-cards-and-cubes-will-self-des-truct." 

Dengar said, "We only get to see our assignment _once_?"

"I-have-heard," said Mr. Dark, somewhat sarcastically, "That-you-were-two-of-the-best. How-ev-er-if-I-was-mis-in-formed…" Dengar held up his hand.

"Oh no, you heard right," he said, with so much conceit Boba 

Fett almost smacked him. Dengar tapped his cloth-wrapped head. "I got a memory like a gundark." _You can remember every cantina waiter who ever stiffed you a decicred, _thought Boba Fett, _but you can't remember a moldy cliche_. Like he said, contemptible. 

Mr. Dark stared at both of them for a moment and then went back to his speech. "This-ass-ign-ment-will-be-very-diffi-cult-and-most-like-ly-dan-ger-ous."

"That makes no difference to me," said Boba Fett.

"Me neither," said Dengar. "I spit in the face of danger."

"It's _laugh_, you idiot," muttered Boba Fett. 

"The-ass-ign-ment-in-vol-ves-peo-ple-that-you-have-had-deal-ings-with-be-fore." Mr. Dark turned his fusion-welder eyes on Boba Fett. "I-belive-sev-er-al-of-them-es-caped-from-you-at-one-point." Boba Fett's anger was instant. No bounty he _really_ intended to catch ever escape from him. True, a few had been misplaced, but he'd always found them again inside a standard month. The only ones he'd ever really failed to capture were members of the Solo family. 

Mr. Dark reached out and handed the holocubes to Boba Fett and Dengar. "Here-are-your-in-struc-tions. I-will-not-see-you-again. Con-tact-me-when-you-have-a-ch-ived-the-cap-ture. I-will-trans-fer-the-cred-its-to-your-acc-ount. 

"Thanks," said Dengar. "I could use a little extra money." Boba Fett turned on his heel and walked out of the room. 

The henchman took them back to the crater floor, and Boba Fett made for his ship, using his jetpack once again to sail back up to the _Slave IV_. 

Sitting in his cockpit, he inserted the holocube into the player and sat back to watch. A standing Mr. Dark appeared. "This-is-your-ass-ign-ment." Then a face that Boba Fett knew well appeared in Mr. Dark's place. The holocube had been edited together from several clips. "Cap-ture-this-per-son-and-come-to-these-co-or-di-nates." A string of coordinates flashed across the screen. "You-will-find-your-boun-ty-on-this-pla-net." A visual and coordinates for a Mid-Rim world popped up. Boba Fett was impressed with Mr. Dark's cunning. He said nothing incriminating. But he had not bargained on the caution of Boba Fett—or the illegal fittings of the _Slave IV_. Boba Fett was carefully recording the entire cube with a prohibited holo duplicator that could copy encrypted cubes. "Pay-ment-on-de-live-ry," said Mr. Dark. The holocube cut off without a farewell. There was a beep and a curl of smoke came out of the holoplayer. But the recording was safely stored in the _Slave IV_'s unslicesable main computer. Just then Boba Fett heard a clanging on his hull. He wondered what it could be. There were supposed to be no life forms on Flar. 

Boba Fett extended the boarding ramp and stuck his head out. Dengar was standing there, his fist raised to pound again. 

"What are you doing, Dengar?" inquired Boba Fett in a tone that let Dengar know it would be wise not to touch his ship again. The other man's hand snapped back to his side.

"I saw the message," he said. He jacked a thumb over his shoulder. "That idiot actually thinks someone can pull it off? He's on spice."

Dengar couldn't see his eyes, but Boba Fett was glaring at him. "I do not find the task unnecessarily difficult. I am taking off. Unless you want to get fried, get off my landing platform." Dengar frowned at him and receded back down the cliff. Boba Fett shook his head. It was ridiculous he had to compete with someone like Dengar. But he was right, in a way. The job _would_ be strenuous. Boba Fett powered up the _Slave IV_, detected an anomaly in the left thruster pod, and waited while the ship ran a self-calibration check. He heard the uneven roar as Dengar's wreck lifted off and shot out of the atmosphere. The ship had almost finished its check when a comm call came through. Curious. No one knew he was on Flar. He toggled the switch.

"Yes."

"Mis-ter-Fett," said Mr. Dark's electronic voice, "lift-off-im-me-di-ate-ly. You-were-in-struc-ted-not-to-re-main."

"A problem with my ship," said Boba Fett.

"Lift-off-or-else," said Mr. Dark, and cut off the communication. Boba Fett wondered why Mr. Dark was so anxious to have him gone. Oh well. The _Slave IV _had completed its check. Boba Fett powered the repulsors and raised off the rocky landing platform. At the touch of a lever the thrusters kicked in and the _Slave IV _shot away from the barren world. As he broke the atmosphere, his long-range sensors—better even than the _Millennium Falcon_'s—detected a large blip, far off, almost on the other side of the planet. Boba Fett checked his course and realized he'd gotten thrown off slightly by the crosswinds. That was the only reason he'd picked up the blip. He read it as…a battle cruiser. Boba Fett altered his course and steered towards the far side of Flar. Yes, that was what it was, all right. The same size as a _Victory-_class Star Destroyer, with beefed up weapons systems. Boba Fett felt a prickle on his neck. There was something wrong here. 

****

CHAPTER

****

2

"Jaina, Mom's on the HoloNet." Jacen stuck his head through the door of her room. Jaina was packing the last of her tools and spare parts from the worn workbench she had maintained throughout their Jedi training. She brushed her hair behind her ears and turned to her twin brother. "I'll be right there." Jacen withdrew.

After her uneasy sleep, Jaina was feeling less than one hundred percent alert, and a transmission from Coruscant was always a welcome interruption. She straightened up and hurried down the stone corridor to the communications center.

In the days when Yavin 4 had been a Rebel base, this had been a war room. Now it was equipped with HoloNet terminals, comm speakers, and controls for the academy's defensive energy shield.

It was at a terminal that Jaina saw a five-centimeter high holo of her mother patiently waiting. Jaina sat herself in front of the console and smiled at the tiny image. "Hi, Mom."

"Hello, Jaina." Leia Organa Solo returned her smile. "I miss you, as always."

"I miss you too," said Jaina. She had never been homesick at the Jedi academy, but seeing her parents once a month on average for the past two years was hard. "But we'll be home soon," she said. 

"We're almost done packing, and Tenel Ka is letting us use the _Rock Dragon _so Aunt Mara will have the _Saber_." Leia nodded in approval. 

"Yes," she said. "I look forward to you and Jacen coming home. So do your father and Anakin, of course. And Threepio is planning a special meal." Jaina chuckled, imagining the nervous protocol droid. "How is everyone at the academy?" asked Leia, breaking into her thoughts. "How's Luke?" It was a loaded question, and Jaina knew it. Her uncle had more than his share of worries of late—Mara was battling a rare molecular disease, and the full Jedi Knights throughout the galaxy were still giving him trouble. Her uncle and aunt were not actively running the academy any longer, but they were here for a retreat, to regroup and try to cure Mara's sickness.

"Uncle Luke's fine," said Jaina. It wasn't a lie, exactly 

"How's Zekk?" inquired Leia. 

"Uh, Zekk's fine," said Jaina. "Why?"

"No special reason," Leia said innocently. _Yeah, right,_ thought Jaina. "Your father and I have quite a surprise for you when you come home," said Leia. 

"What is it?" said Jaina eagerly.

"Well if I told you," said her mother, "it wouldn't be a surprise. Goodbye." Leia disappeared. 

__

Surprise? It was pretty near her and Jacen's birthday, but their parents made it a point never to give out presents beforehand. 

Jacen came up behind her and stretched dramatically. "I am so ready to go home." Jaina nodded. She felt somehow, with her training with Mara and the Yuuzahn Vong invasion that had shown everyone involved just how vulnerable the galaxy really was, that she and her brothers had outgrown the Jedi academy. They were ready to take their place in the Knighthood. 

"I know what you mean," she said to Jacen, coming out of thought. She stood up from the console. "I'm going to go get the _Rock Dragon_ checked out," she said. "I have to be extra careful, since you're going to be my co-pilot."

"Hey, now what's that supposed to mean?" said Jacen in mock indignation. 

"You're not exactly Chewbacca," said Jaina. "No offense, of course." Jacen gave her a not-to-hard punch on the shoulder and trotted back to his room. 

Jaina descended into the full hangar bay, which held her uncle's X-wing fighter, the quantum armored _Shadow Chaser_, which Luke had liberated from the Shadow Academy, Lowbacca's T-23 skyhopper, Zekk's vessel, _Lightning Rod_, the _Jedi Saber_ and the _Rock Dragon_. Lowie was underneath the Hapan craft, working on a repulsorlift. 

"Hey, Lowie," said Jaina, giving him a light touch on his hairy leg. Lowie growled a greeting, and one of his saucer-sized hands emerged to wave at her. "How's it look?" queried Jaina. Lowie grunted back that the ship was in peak condition. "Excellent," said Jaina. She was touched Lowbacca had the foresight to check the craft out for her—it cut down the things she had to worry about by an order of ten. 

Em Teedee spoke up from where he floated by the workbench. "We will all miss you and Master Jacen, Mistress Jaina. Your presence has contributed a great deal of levity to life at the Jedi academy."

"If you're talking about Jacen's jokes," said Jaina, "I'd seriously question your taste." Lowie snorted a laugh from under the ship, and if Em Teedee had had the capacity to display facial emotion, he would have turned up his nose in indignation. "We're going to miss you guys too," said Jaina seriously. Lowie backed out from under the _Rock Dragon_ and stood up to face her. He moaned something. "Well, then, you'd better hurry up and graduate so we can work together again," said Jaina with a grin. Lowie chuffed a laugh and slapped her on the back with typical Wookie friendliness that made Jaina stumble forward. She grinned, her momentary melancholy gone. "Easy, Lowie," she chuckled. "I have to be ready to fight off all those alien invaders, y'know." Lowie grinned, showing his huge teeth, and waved a farewell has he headed out of the hangar bay. Jaina chuckled once more and climbed the boarding ramp into the _Rock Dragon_ to plot the hyperspace course back to Coruscant. It didn't take her long.

Jaina left the hangar bay and went back to her room to pack up her overnight bag she'd brought along. As she passed the communications center she saw Zekk leaning over a HoloNet terminal. His back was to her, but she could see from his tense posture that something was wrong. She walked across the stone room and stood next to him, just out of the holocam field. A scale image of a plump man in a New Republic uniform was on the other end of the transmission. 

"As I said," he intoned, using the officious voice of what Han Solo called glorified data entrants, "he has listed you as next of kin. We suggest that you come back immediately, to deal with any legal or personal complications that may arise." Zekk's mouth twisted into an angry frown. 

"Legal?" he said. 

"Well," said the bureaucrat, " he _was_ piloting a New Republic vessel at the time, and he will, of course, be expected to compensate us for it. Unless, however unlikely, that it was an accident." 

Zekk leaned forward into the holocomm, with a look on his face that would have stopped a charging rancor. The bureaucrat masked a nervous swallow with a weak smile. "You can be sure," Zekk growled between gritted teeth, "it was an accident." He hit the switch and the bureaucrat vanished. 

"What's wrong?" asked Jaina quietly. Zekk noticed her for the first time. The frightening look that contorted his handsome features was replaced with one of helplessness. He leaned against the privacy wall of the console and ran a hand through the few brunette strands that were to short to stay in his ponytail. 

"I need a lift back to Coruscant," he finally said. Jaina's question about why he didn't take his own ship was stalled in its vector by his next words. "Peckum's been hurt. Badly." Oh. That explained a lot. Peckum was Zekk's adoptive father, the man who'd taken him in when Zekk's parents had been killed, and who had taken him in once again after the dark side had left him. If anything happened to Peckum, Zekk would probably go to pieces. 

"What happened?" asked Jaina. 

"He was in an accident," said Zekk bitterly. "Over Coruscant. He was going out to a Rim colony to deliver some supplies. He had made his hyperspace calculations and was accelerating for the jump to lightspeed when he flew through the space yacht." 

"Flew _through_?" said Jaina, her eyebrows going up a good centimeter. 

"Well, through the forward cargo compartment, anyway," said Zekk. He tried to force his voice to be cheerful. "Fortunately that New Republic freighter he got after he crashed the _Lightning Rod,_ the_ Thunderbolt,_ has augmented shields. But," he said, failing at his attempt to cast a light on things, "so did the yacht. The freighter's a wreck, and Peckum…Peckum's in a coma."

"Oh, _no_," said Jaina. She laid a gentle hand on Zekk's shoulder. "Oh, Zekk, I'm so sorry."

"The thing is," said Zekk, his voice trembling with grief—or was it anger? "They think it was Peckum's fault."

Jaina frowned. "How could it be Peckum's fault? It could be the controller's fault, or the captain of the space yacht's fault. Not Peckum. He's one of the most careful pilots I know." 

"They think," said Zekk, definitely angry now, "that he was drunk."

__

"Drunk?" said Jaina, the utter absurdness of the statement shocking her. "Peckum drunk? He doesn't drink! More likely the pilot of the space yacht was drunk! Those things are flying beerhouses!" 

Zekk said, "To bad that…that…"

"Glorified data entrant?" suggested Jaina.

"To bad _he_ doesn't believe it," Zekk spat out. He cast a baleful glance at the holo terminal. 

Jaina checked at her chronometer. "We're leaving in a few hours. You can definitely ride back with us. I wasn't to thrilled at the thought of having Jacen as my co-pilot. Although," she said realizing she might be imposing on Zekk, "if you're not up to it…"

"No, it's all right," said Zekk. "Something to occupy my mind." He moved past Jaina to the door. "I'll go pack."

Late that afternoon, Jaina piloted the _Rock Dragon_ out of the hangar bay and onto the landing field on repulsor power while Zekk double-checked her hyperspace vector. Lowbacca, Em Teedee, Raynar, Lusa, her uncle and aunt and Tenel Ka had arrayed on the edge of the field to see them off. Jaina and Zekk came down the boarding ramp to collect their gear. Jaina took a breath, feeling unexpected tears prick her eyes as each of her friends hugged her goodbye. "We'll see all of you again, as soon as you graduate," she said, mostly to reassure herself. 

Lowbacca nodded and growled a bass farewell and Raynar said, "Try not to get into to much trouble."

Jaina raised an eyebrow. "Trouble? Me? Whatever makes you think that?" Raynar grinned and hugged her again. Lusa patted Jaina on the shoulder. 

"Goodbye," she said in her high, tinkling voice. "Be careful, Jaina." Tenel Ka nodded her agreement with Lusa. Jaina knew the warrior girl hated emotional moments, but Tenel Ka gave her a one-armed squeeze, her face expressionless. 

"Goodbye, Jaina my friend," she said briefly.

"Goodbye, Tenel Ka," said Jaina seriously. 

Jacen hurried up to the landing field, his curly brown hair tousled, lugging his duffel and a small box with the rest of his things. "Well, guess this is it," he said breathlessly. Everyone hugged and shook hands and slapped backs with Jacen as well, Tenel Ka lingering in her embrace. Jaina and Zekk moved over to Luke Skywalker and Mara. 

"Goodbye, Jaina, Zekk," said Luke with gravity. Mara nodded. She was pale, and holding on to Luke's arm, but she straightened up and gave Jaina a hard hug. 

"See you soon, kiddo. You keep practicing, hear?" Jaina couldn't hold her tears in any more, but she disguised them by rubbing her eyes. She'd never imagined leaving the academy and her friends would be this hard. True, she and her brothers hadn't been attending lately, but this, with all the finality, the packing and the good-byes, knowing that a new trainee would be occupying her room soon, filled Jaina with a deep sadness. She forced a smile. This was part of the road to becoming a Jedi Knight. 

"Zekk," said Luke, turning to the tall young man, "I hope everything works out all right with Peckum."

Zekk heaved a sigh. "Me too." He turned and hurried up the boarding ramp. Jaina looked over her shoulder at him; decided it was time to go.

"Bye, Uncle Luke," she said. No more words were needed between them. 

The Jedi Master turned to his nephew. "Goodbye, Jacen!" he called. Jacen had clasped Tenel Ka's hand in his, and the two were talking in low, quick voices no one else could hear. 

"C'mon, lover boy!" Jaina yelled as she headed up the ramp. "We have to get going if we want to make Coruscant by midnight!" Jacen blushed and threw Jaina a dirty look. Jaina had to laugh. Tenel Ka gave him a one- armed hug, and Jacen, surprising everyone, kissed her full on the lips, blushed again, and hurried up the ramp into the ship. 

Luke called after them, "Have a safe trip! Be careful!"

Inside the _Rock Dragon,_ Jaina slid into the pilot's seat. "Why is everyone telling me to be careful?" she said. "It's not like I'm gonna get into trouble or anything."

More than several hours later the _Rock Dragon_ popped out of hyperspace over Coruscant. Zekk, who had grown increasingly nervous and fidgety on the trip, shifted his weight in the co-pilot's seat. 

Jaina threw him a sympathetic look. "I'd let Jacen take over," she said, "but landing vectors on Coruscant can be pretty tricky." Zekk grimaced.

"Tell me about it," he muttered. Jaina keyed her comm for Coruscant control. 

"This is _Rock Dragon _requesting landing clearance."

The controller came back almost immediately. _"Rock Dragon,_ you are cleared. Do not deviate from your present course. Your vector is Docking Bay 336." Jaina piloted the ship carefully through Coruscant's atmosphere. 

Coruscant was easily the busiest planet in the galaxy. Tens of thousands of ships passed through in a single day; cargo haulers, pleasure vessels, passenger cruisers, transports. Not to mention the satellite stations, the enormous orbital sun mirrors, and the few bits of wreckage left over from the days when the Empire and the Rebel Alliance were battling for control. But there was a complete map of all the rubble now, thanks to Jaina, Lowbacca, and Anakin Solo. The three had charted the debris a few Standard years ago, cutting down dramatically on the flying accidents above the planet. 

It was late night on Coruscant as Jaina overflew the city towards its center in the northern hemisphere. The buildings grew progressively taller as she flew on, uncomfortably close at times.

"I bet all those rich corporate heads and dethroned rulers just love getting overflown at twelve-thirty in the morning," commented Jacen, braced in the door of the cockpit.

"Why do you think I took the long way?" grinned Jaina. The comment was directed at Zekk, who didn't even crack a smile. Jaina sighed, frustrated, then swore mildly and starteledly as she skimmed way to close to a kilometer-tall office building. In the middle distance Jaina caught sight of the tallest of the skyscrapers, a black-green structure which resembled a triangle with the top lopped off. The Imperial Palace. Jaina sighed as another sensitive memory surfaced. The palace had been her home since she was born. But now, with Leia no longer the Chief of State, the Solo's apartment near the top of the palace was occupied by none other that Borsk Feyl'ya. Jaina had nothing but dislike for the scheming and manipulative Bothan, whom she was sure had won the election by some covert means. But Leia was accepting of her new status as a top ambassador, and the Solos now occupied a suite in one of the palace district's better apartment buildings. Somewhere out in the night/day of Coruscant was the Bornaryn Trading Headquarters and the Royal Hapan Embassy, Raynar and Tenel Ka's lavish dwellings. 

Jaina followed the landing beacons down into Docking Bay 336, the Solo's bay they had rented along with the apartment. She settled the _Rock Dragon_ next to her mother's sleek silver ship _Alderaan_. Past the _Alderaan _her father's 'specialized private vessel', the _Millennium Falcon,_ rested. Out the transparisteel canopy, Jaina saw, despite the late hour, that a small entourage had gathered to greet them. Han and Leia, Chewbacca, Threepio, and Anakin. 

"C'mon, Jaina, open the ramp," said Jacen. Then he yawned. Jaina hit the switch to extend the ramp. She was tired too. Jacen jogged down and went to greet the family. Jaina started the _Rock Dragon_'s shutdown cycle, anxious to see her parents. She collected her gear and moved quickly after Jacen. Zekk followed them at a slower speed. No happy reunion for him. 

Jaina was slightly embarrassed that he was watching when Han Solo swept her into a bear hung and kissed her on the cheek. 

"How's the second most beautiful woman in the galaxy?" he asked. Jaina's looks were a running family joke. Still, she wished her father hadn't cracked it when Zekk was around. 

She countered with a jab of her own. "I'm fine. How's the most notorious smuggler in the galaxy?" Her father's face broke into a lopsided smile. 

"Perfect. And your mother and I have a surprise for you."

"Yeah, Mom told me," said Jaina. "What is it?"

"Well if I told you," said Han. "It wouldn't be a surprise."

Leia stopped Jaina from playfully strangling her father by announcing, "We'll take care of everything in the morning." She walked over and tapped her chronometer. "I, for one, am about to fall asleep where I stand." Jaina realized, with her mother standing next to her, just how much she had grown. She topped the ambassador by a good six or seven centimeters. It made her vaguely sad that she was so tall, remembering when she had looked up to her mother from a height of one meter even. It seemed wrong that she grew taller, even through Leia was exceptionally petite and her father was well endowed in the height department. 

"It's time for you to get ready for bed," said Leia to all the teenagers in general. Then she turned her attention to Zekk. "Zekk, I'm sorry about all the trouble you've had. I've arranged a meeting with the security officials in the morning. Peckum's in the Republic Hospital, receiving only the best of care." Zekk nodded.

"Thank you, Leia," he said quietly. Han patted Zekk on the shoulder.

"Tough break, kid. But I think old Peckum will pull through. He's tougher than an overcooked nerf steak." Leia jabbed Han in the side for this charming analogy. Zekk just looked mournful. 

"I hope so," he said after a moment. "I certainly hope so."

Jaina slept uneasily again that night. She could feel Zekk's anxiety—and testament to how strong it was, coupled with her own concern about Peckum's condition, _on top_ of all the other worries she'd been having, made sleep a near impossibility. She finally tapped into the Force to get herself some rest. When she awoke, restless and far to early, she paced her room, made her bed (Threepio would be annoyed) fiddled with the attachments on her multitool and then checked the chrono. Seventeen Standard minutes had passed. Jaina gave up. She opened her door as quietly as she could and stepped into the hall. Jacen and Anakin's doors were closed, and she could hear muted snores emanating from her parent's room. Threepio was switched off at the entrance to the drawing room. But she was surprised to see her mother sitting at the HoloNet transmitter in the far corner. Leia was speaking in a low, interrogative tone that she used when something bad had happened. Finally she nodded her head regretfully and switched off the call. Jaina crossed the room to her shoulder.

"What's up, Mom?" Leia twisted in her chair.

"Oh, I didn't know you were up so early, Jaina. Didn't you sleep well?" Jaina shook her head. 

"Not really. Is something wrong?" Leia pursed her lips. 

"We had some trouble in one of our embassies. Another pointless act of terrorism." Jaina shook her head.

"It never ends, does it?" 

Leia agreed. "It never ends. And there's not a thing we can do." Their depressed musing were interrupted by Zekk, who had spent the night in the guestroom. He yawned and stretched an arm behind his head, wiry muscles rippling under his sleep shirt. 

"'Morning," he said. "We're up early, aren't we?"

"I couldn't sleep," said Jaina, adding silently, _mostly because of you._ An idea sprang to her and she said, "Maybe we should go outside or something," _so I can talk to you alone._ "We don't want to wake the others." _This is a golden opportunity—take the hint!_

Zekk cast his eyes down and shook his head minutely. For some reason, he lately seemed inordinately afraid of spending time alone with her. Jaina let an exasperated puff of air get passed her lips. 

Leia sensed the tension and stood. "Well," she said, "now's as good a time as any to show you that surprise I mentioned." 

"Really? Great!" exclaimed Jaina. Jaina loved surprises almost as much as she loved flying. Leia led them out of the Solo's apartment and into a turbolift. They descended into the lobby building, and then Leia led them down a bleak corridor to the adjacent docking bays. However, Leia didn't go towards the Solo's bay. She headed to the auxiliary a few paces down the corridor.

"Close your eyes," she told Jaina when they had stopped before the sealed door. A wild hope was growing in Jaina's mind—the thing she'd wanted, for years—could it be about to happen? She closed her eyes compliantly. Although a Jedi didn't need sight to see, Jaina curbed her instinct to use the Force to see where she was going. Leia took her hands and guided her into the hangar bay. 

"Can I open them?" she asked eagerly.

"Not yet," said Leia. "Zekk, come help me." Their footsteps crossed the bay and there was a loud rustling. "It's not much to look at," said Leia finally, "but I hope you like it. You can open your eyes now." 

Jaina opened her eyes, and suddenly all her hopes were realized. A ship sat at the far end of the hangar. It was a modified cargo hauler, battered, and, if it was possible, even rustier than the _Millenium Falcon._ Jaina gaped, not daring to believe. 

"Is it…?" she finally asked. Leia nodded.

"Yes, Jaina. It's for you."

Jaina couldn't control herself. She let out a wild yell of excitement and took off across the bay towards the ship, stopped and stared up at it, unable to believe that the vessel was actually hers. Zekk came up beside her, raised an eyebrow. "I don't mean to be rude," he said, "but this thing's a piece of junk." Jaina appraised the ship.

"It's been heavily modified, a lot like the _Falcon_. It started out as a stock cargo hauler." She turned to her mother, joyful. "Where did you _get_ it?" Leia smiled.

"Well, your father and I talked it over carefully. You and Jacen are both nearly seventeen, and you are certainly responsible enough to have your own ship. We were going to buy you a new one, top-of-the-line, all the accessories, you know. But then your father rather obviously pointed out that you would much prefer a vessel you could fix up." 

"That's a fact," agreed Jaina.

"And then," Leia indicated the battered ship, "this came along. It belonged to a minor crime lord who operated in the Underworld. He used it for—"

"Smuggling?" interjected Zekk. Leia concurred.

"Spice, mostly."

"Which means," said Jaina, grinning at the ship again, "that it will probably have high weapons ratings and illegal engine modifications." 

"You sound happy about it," said Zekk. "Father's influence finally kicking in?" Jaina smacked Zekk on the shoulder as she laughed—more with relief that Zekk seemed to be snapping out of his funk than at his rather tasteless joke.

"I wouldn't count on anything, you two," said Leia. "The man who used the ship wasn't exactly a successful smuggler." Zekk turned to the ship and ran his hand over some carbon scores on the lower hull. 

"Looks like this guy got his shields cooked right off."

"Let's go inside!" said Jaina with excitement. She found the outside release for the boarding ramp and pulled it. Almost before it touched the floor, she ran up it and into the ship. Zekk followed close behind. The ramp opened into a short corridor, one way which lead to the cockpit, the other into a small passenger lounge, and continued back to the cargo bay. The interior had the piquancy of air that had been recycled too many times, plus a certain overtone that her father called Old Ship Stink. But Jaina didn't care. The ship was every thing she'd wanted. She turned to Leia, who had followed them. "By the way, does it have a name?" Leia smiled.

"Yes. _Lonely Star._"

"The _Lonely Star._" Jaina spoke the name reverently. Then she smiled her lopsided smile. "I like it." 

The _Lonely Star_, being a cargo hauler of the YT series, was shaped like a disk. The cockpit was in the front instead of being offset like the old and very new models, so the front of the ship came to a sharp point. Jaina walked slowly towards the cockpit, savoring the moment. There was only one bucket seat in front of the controls. The ship could be piloted by one life form. Just the way Jaina wanted it. 

She slid into the seat and sat still for a moment. The _Lonely Star_ was hers. She still couldn't quite believe it. Zekk stuck his head through the hatch. 

"Ooh, it's a little cramped in here," he said, ducking through the hatchway and standing behind her. He studied the control panel. "Pretty basic stuff." Jaina nodded. 

"But we can modify anything I want." She turned to Zekk with a grin. "Wanna help?"

The morning progressed swiftly after that. Jaina had hundreds of components for everything from a capital ship to a landspeeder in her bedroom, and, combined with Han Solo's cache of spare parts, she could practically build a new ship. She and Zekk spent the morning going through the various bins of cyberfuzes, circuits, and motivators and clambering in, out, over and under the _Lonely Star_. Most of the systems needed modifying, and some crucial ones needed complete overhauls. The ship had quad guns port and starboard, and a small blaster cannon mounted on top. But the guns had seen better days and the cannon didn't work at all. The sublight engines were only standard, and the hyperdrive was shot to the Outer Rim. Zekk overheard Jaina muttering, "To bad they don't have some contest for most beat-up hunk of junk in the galaxy. I could be rich." Still, he knew she was overjoyed to have the ship—and in the Solo family 'you worthless bucket of bolts' was an affectionate term for machinery. Jacen assisted them, running back to the main hangar bay for parts and fetching tools, and Jaina was reminded of the days when she, Jacen and the other trainees had worked for hours on the _Rock Dragon_. Anakin tried to help too, in his own fashion. "For the last time," Jaina snapped at him, "you may not levitate the propulsion system back into place!"

By midday meal, they had repaired the motivators in the engines, replaced the power couplings on the hyperdrive, and sealed the worst weak spots on the outer hull. Jaina ran a hand through her bangs and tucked a lose strand of hair behind her ears. "This is just the beginning," she said. "We haven't even checked the sensors yet, never mind calibrated everything and repaired the shield generator." 

"I'm starved," said Zekk in response. "Let's go get some food." He dropped the hydrospanner he'd been using back in the toolbox and headed for the turbolift. Jaina cleaned up the mess they'd made around the hyperdrive and shoved the access plate back into place. She followed Zekk across the hangar and into the turbolift. 

In the confined space, Zekk stood well to one side of the small tube, as far away from her as he could get. Jaina was perplexed and hurt. Zekk had willingly helped her all morning with the _Lonely Star_, although he was anxious for news of Peckum's condition, which remained unchanged. The medical droid at the hospital had reported that while his coma wasn't life threatening, he might not come out for days, even months. He had also sustained a number of broken bones, contusions, and burns. Leia had fielded calls from the security officials, and there were no charges pressed against the old spacer. So what was Zekk's problem? Jaina had a good idea, but didn't allow her thoughts to dwell on it.

When they reached the Solo's apartment, they found Leia once again bent over the holo transmitter, trying to listen impassively, but with a glint of excitement showing on her face. When she saw Jaina and Zekk, she motioned them over, and after a moment switched off the transmitter and sat back in her chair. "How are the repairs going?" 

"I think we've got the worst problems pretty well under control," said Jaina, "but Zekk was right—the ship is a piece of junk. But it's not a piece of junk we can't fix. Who was on the HoloNet?"

"Another transmission from Onderon," said Leia. Jaina raised her eyebrows.

"Onderon. Why does that sound familiar to me?" 

"Mon Mothma, your father and I stayed there for a brief period right after you and Jacen were born. You were still out of sight on New Alderaan. I was pregnant with Anakin." 

Jaina nodded. "Yeah, I remember."

"Onderon played an important par in galactic history four thousand years ago," said Leia. "Jedi Master Arca Jeth was named Watchman of the system, and made his base there. He brought his three most promising students with him—Tot Donnita, and Ulic and Cay Quel-Droma." Jaina nodded attentively and Zekk took a seat, inviting Leia to go on with her story. "There they encountered two dark side leaders, Queen Amanoa and King Ommin. Although they didn't have much Force ability, the spirit of a dead Dark Jedi called Freedon Nadd guided them." 

"Freedon Nadd," Jaina rubbed her chin thoughtfully. Then her head snapped up. "Right! The one who turned Exar Kun to the dark side!" Exar Kun had been a Dark Lord of the Sith, who made his base on Yavin 4 and who had haunted one of the temples, filling it with dark energy. One by one, he had tried to turn Luke Skywalker's first students to the dark side, succeeded in killing one and destroying the Jedi Holocron. The combined efforts of all the trainees had finally sent Kun's spirit into the void and rid Yavin 4 of his contamination. 

Leia said, "Onderon was where the act of vandalism took place. It's changed quite a bit since we took refuge there during the Civil War." Jaina cocked her head.

"Oh?"

"Yes," said Leia. "It seems they've decided to become a neutral planet, while still leaning to the New Republic. Their soil is excellent for agriculture, and they've quickly become a major supplier of food to the sector. They observe strict curfews and harsh criminal laws. Their tag line is: 'The most perfect planet in the galaxy'." Zekk quirked his mouth in amusement.

"I doubt that."

"You may be more right than you think," said Leia. "There's the vandalism, which, as far as we can see, was perpetrated by a humanist group, and then there's this." She folded her hands. "It seems a rumor has spread the there are Jedi children living in hidden caves."

"Really," said Jaina. Leia frowned. 

"A few 'brave' people have caught a glimpse of the caves, and the Jedi that supposedly live in them. They say they're all quite young, in the charge of an old man. The Onderon officials are very disturbed."

"Why are they so disturbed?" asked Zekk. "I'd think Force-sensitive children would be a _good_ thing." Leia sighed.

"Onderon has had so many bad experiences with the dark side—not to mention the Freedon Nadd uprising when Master Arca was protecting the system—that they don't want anything to do with the Force, or the Jedi Knights." Leia stood. "I'm going to leave for Onderon as soon as possible. Chief of State Feyl'ya has asked me to investigate these rumors—and I can look into the vandalism at the same time."

"But they have investigative teams to do that," Jaina objected. In her opinion, Feyl'ya was shipping her mother out of the way.

"I know what you're thinking, Jaina," said Leia. "It's written all over your face." She rubbed her temples. "To be honest, after the whole Yuuzahn Vong situation, I could use a rest, and a little investigative work on a perfect planet is a good opportunity." So that was that.

"When will you go?" asked Jaina. 

"Two standard days, probably," said Leia. An idea sprang to Jaina. She looked at Zekk. He looked back. A message passed between them.

"We could take you," said Jaina. "After all, I have my own ship now."

****

CHAPTER

3

****

Boba Fett sat in the cockpit of the _Slave IV_. His gloved fingers tapped a keyboard, busily correlating all the information he'd collected in the past days. Leia Organa Solo was on Coruscant. But it had reached him that she was planning to leave for a planet called Onderon in the next day or so. Mr. Dark had been correct. The planet name tickled something in Boba Fett's memory and he cross-referenced it. Onderon had been the sight of some dark side rebellion four millennia ago. Not terribly interesting, or important. 

Although it was against the Bounty Hunter's Creed, he wondered if, after Mr. Dark had finished with Organa Solo, he would let Boba Fett take her back—for a price, of course. It would be a surefire way of luring Han Solo to his ultimate doom—and maybe take care of her bratty Jedi children as well. In particular, the girl, Jaina, was a bother. So like her father—cocky, arrogant, and self-involved. A good pilot, although she'd panicked when he'd tried to capture them in the Alderaan rubble field. If her bounty hunter friend hadn't shown up…_former bounty hunter_, he reminded himself. Indecision and quibbling were just two of the many, many things that annoyed Boba Fett.

He sternly brushed all thoughts of Jaina Solo, Han Solo, and Zekk from his mind. His bounty was Leia Organa Solo. Boba Fett would catch his bounty. Boba Fett never failed.

****

Jaina sat in the _Lonely Star_'s cockpit. From outside she heard Zekk's voice.

"Try it again!" Through the canopy, which she had cleaned with solvent, Jaina saw Zekk standing by the hull holding a palm-sized energy scanner. She activated the shield generator and waited. Zekk held up the scanner. If the shields were operational, it would read positive. Jaina had found the _Lonely Star _didn't have a shield generator, and she'd coupled one together, and it worked just as well as a commercial model. When it worked. 

Zekk shook his head—sill nothing. Jaina sighed in consternation. Her mother wanted to leave in the early afternoon, it was almost time for midday meal, and the _Lonely Star _still wasn't up to specs. It was worlds better than it had been two days ago, though. The blaster cannon worked—it had been a simple matter of replacing a few conductors—the navicomputer and autopilot were calibrated, and Jaina had replaced nearly all of the hyperdrive's components. It had been an explosion looking for a place to happen. She's even called Lando Calrissian and convinced him to send her a fresh canister of Tibanna gas from his mining interests on Cloud City free of charge. Jaina and Zekk had laboriously cleaned the carbon scoring from the hull plating, sealed every leak and weak point, and had overhauled the life-support systems. But the shield generator was still a bugger. Annoyed, Jaina heisted herself out of the pilot's seat and stomped through the now cleaned-up passenger lounge. The _Lonely Star _had an entertainment module that could play holovids, review datacubes, or synthesize music. Jaina had polished the deckplates and put sealant tape on the ripped upholstery of the acceleration couch, and the lounge was now reasonably comfortable. 

Jaina walked down the boarding ramp and climbed onto the upper hull. She looked regretfully at the mount for a_ good _long-range sensor dish and Terrain Following Sensors packet, things that were essential to a smuggler. No wonder the guy hadn't been successful. 

She walked back toward the engines, and bent over the shield generator, tinkering in its innards for a moment, making sure every connector was tight and every circuit closed. She dropped off the hull and went back to the cockpit to activate the generator. This time Zekk gave her thumbs up. The shield was running at a hundred percent. They were ready.

The _Lonely Star _lifted off from Coruscant without event. 

Jaina was delighted at how smoothly the ship ran. Han, Chewie, and her brothers had come to see them off. Han had promised Jaina, that, if he had time, he would fly the _Rock Dragon_ back to the Jedi academy. _And check on Luke_, was the unspoken sentence. 

As she took the _Lonely Star_ out of the atmosphere, she could hear polite conversation between Zekk and Leia in the passenger lounge. Leia was working over her datapad, putting together an investigation outline and assembling the information she already had. 

Zekk stuck his head into the cockpit. "How's she run?" he asked. 

"Perfectly, of course," said Jaina over her shoulder. Zekk grinned.

"Of course." 

"I'm glad we fixed up the lounge," said Jaina. "And also a couple bunks. This hyperspace trip is going to take a while." She carefully skirted a robofreighter that was entering the atmosphere. Zekk pointed to the left.

"Over there. That's where Peckum had his accident." Jaina brought up the hardwired long-range sensors, which were standard on cargo ships and couldn't sense much of anything. A flat-screen display of red, yellow, and green lines and dots intersecting and moving came on. The yellow was ships moving around Coruscant, the red was hazardous debris, and the green were sun mirrors and orbital defenses platforms. Half a kilometer away there was a concentrated bit of red. Zekk gazed out the canopy with an unreadable expression.

"You'd better strap in," Jaina advised him. "I'm going to make the jump to lightspeed in a minute." Zekk backed out of the cockpit and shuffled away down the corridor to the lounge. Jaina keyed the coordinates of Onderon into the navicomputer, waited for the calculations, and then engaged the hyperdrive. The _Lonely Star _shot into hyperspace, it's journey begun. 

****

Boba Fett received a bit of a shock when he reached Onderon. As he set the _Slave IV_ down on a landing pad on the outskirts of Old Iziz, and disembarked the ship, he nearly did a double take. Across the pad was Dengar's battered starship. _How _had he gotten here before Boba Fett? The masked bounty hunter was marginally grateful to Dengar for saving him from the Sarlacc, but him searing anger at being second to arrive erased that gratitude in an instant. And anyway, that life-debt had been some twenty-one years ago, and he'd repaid it by not blasting Dengar into shrapnel long ago. Now, however, he was tempted to. But Boba Fett decided he needed to extract all the information that Dengar had gathered, and the only way to do that was to ask him. He closed the _Slave IV_'s hatch and engaged it's top-notch security system. The he strode across the landing pad to Dengar's ship. Like Dengar had done to him, he pounded on the hull. After a minute the boarding ramp rolled down, and Dengar poked his large head and his large blaster rifle around the edge of the hatch. 

"Oh, it's _you_, Fett," he said. He moved into full view. "You shouldn't hit the ship. It's held together with duct sealant and not much else." Boba Fett nodded.

"I can see that. What are you doing here, Dengar?" Dengar pursed his lips. 

"Same as you. Why? You have a problem?" His mouth curved up in a sneering smile. "I guess I kinda one-upped ya, didn't I, Boba Fett? Well, don't worry, you can't be the greatest forever. And you're gettin' on in years, so—" His monologue was stopped. Boba Fett had cleared the boarding ramp in three swift strides and wrapped his gauntleted hand around Dengar's throat. Dengar squirmed wildly and tried to bring his rifle up into Boba Fett's ribs. Boba Fett knocked the rifle out of his hand and slammed him against the wall of the boarding corridor. 

"This. Bounty. Is. _Mine_," he growled. Dengar pried at Boba Fett's hand. He was strong, but Boba Fett was angry, and the other bounty hunter's frantic clawing merely made him tighten his grip. "_Do you understand?"_ Tears came to Dengar's eyes and his face turned a shade of pale purple. He croaked and twisted his neck, still not speaking. He had endured enough pain at the hands of Imperial surgeons to make anything the masked man could offer up inconsequential. 

Boba Fett realized his effort had no more result than beating a nek battle dog, and Dengar dropped to the deck. Almost immediately, he sprang up, gasping and incensed. Hands on knees, he sucked in more air, rubbed his throat, and glared at Boba Fett. Boba Fett was impassive. Dengar got himself under control and grabbed his rifle from the deck. "Listen, Fett, you don't like me, and I don't like you. But the only way we're going to bring in this bounty is if we cooperate." Boba Fett stepped back from Dengar, offended by the notion. 

"I don't work with anyone. _I'm_ a bounty hunter."

"I know it's against Bounty Hunter's Creed," said Dengar, "but we both hate the Solos. If we get Ambassador Solo, then we can give her to Mr. Dark and then say we have her as a hostage and then get Han Solo and his kids. And maybe," he said, a primitive grin showing his teeth, "even that little grease monkey Zekk." Zekk, of course, had done something to Dengar, nearly shooting him down on Mechis III, aided, to add insult to injury, by Jaina Solo. Dengar had never quite gotten over that. 

"I have no reason to do that, Dengar," said Boba Fett. "I don't need you 'help'."

"I think you do," Dengar countered, and Boba Fett saw a sincerity in his face he'd never witnessed before. "I hate them!" the bounty hunter yelled. "Solo is responsible for me looking like _this!_" Boba Fett subtly moved away from Dengar, in case he should lash out. 

"The only reason I'm still alive," continued Dengar more quietly, "is because I want the Solo's heads—all of them—on a spear."

Boba Fett cocked his head. "What about your wife? She cares very much for you, as I recall." Dengar shook his head, and if Boba Fett hadn't known better, he could have sworn he was close to tears. 

"She's dead, Fett. And even if she was still alive, she wouldn't want me."

"Dead?" said Boba Fett.

"Yeah, dead!" shouted Dengar. "A New Republic raid on some Imperial insurrectionists. She was out _shopping,_ Fett! She was a crossfire victim!" He slammed his fist against the corridor wall, a move that made the entire ship shake. "See? The Solos are responsible for that, too!" he thundered. "It was our exalted former Chief of State Leia Organa Solo who ordered the raid." He looked imploringly at Boba Fett. "This means more to me than anything in my life. You can have the bounty, tell Mr. Dark you caught Organa Solo all by yourself. But please, let me help you." Boba Fett tossed his head in disdain.

"Don't beg, Dengar." Dengar gritted his teeth, looking around for something to injure. 

Suddenly, he shoved his blaster rifle against his temple and said, "Fine! You can have one more life on you hands, Boba Fett, because this is it for me!" He curled his finger around the trigger.

"What I _meant_ was," said Boba Fett in a slow, careful voice, "you needn't beg. I have decided to let you assist me. The assignment will be complex, and I will use your talents." The scarred man's face and posture relaxed, and he lowered the rifle from his head. 

"Mr. Dark said she was coming to Onderon."

"Correct," said Boba Fett. "She will have a guard, besides being a Jedi Knight. We will proceed with caution, wait for an opportune time, and then strike quickly and efficiently." Dengar nodded, a surprising expression of innocence on his face.

"You're the boss." Contrary to all he believed, Boba Fett felt a rush of sympathy for the driven Dengar.

"No," he corrected the other man, "you are my partner."

****

When Jaina brought the _Lonely Star_ out of hyperspace over Onderon, Zekk was laughing at a holocomedy and Leia was asleep in one of the bunks. 

"Rise and shine back there," Jaina called. "Time to be diplomatic." The bunk creaked as Leia awakened and went to wash up and apply makeup. Zekk switched off his holovid.

Trying to remember proper diplomatic procedure, Jaina keyed the comm code for the control center of Old Iziz. She spoke carefully and politely. "Central Control, this is the consular ship _Lonely Star_ requesting permission to land at the New Republic embassy field." There was a momentary delay, and Jaina knew the controller was processing the _Lonely Star_ through the computer. 

"_Lonely Star, _please maintain your present course," said the controller finally. Jaina wondered what in the galaxy they could be doing. There was no other traffic in the sky, no obstructions at all. Leia came into the cockpit.

"A problem?"

"They told me to hold my present course, and since I don't want to make the wrong impression I'm doing what they said," Jaina replied. Leia nodded her approval.

"I wonder what they're doing?"

"Yeah, me too." The controller's voice came on.

"_Lonely Star,_ do you have radiation protection on board?" Jaina, nonplussed, looked at her mother. They didn't have radiation protection. Leia shook her head to indicate Jaina should tell them so. 

"Um, no we don't. Is there a problem?" 

"You will be detained for a bioscan in port," replied the controller. "Please change your heading to two-five-zero and maintain your present speed. Welcome to Onderon, the most perfect planet in the galaxy."

Now Jaina knew what the delay had really been about. Invisible beams had scanned the _Lonely Star_ for computer viruses, hidden weapons, and contaminants. Now all the passengers were going to be detained for a bioscan. Leia pursed her lips in an annoyed expression. "They didn't say anything about a bioscan." Zekk, who couldn't fit into the cockpit, came to the door.

"Well, I guess a plague would kind of ruin their image." Jaina altered her heading and brought the _Lonely Star_ into Onderon's atmosphere. There was turbulence, and the ship bounced slightly. Immediately the controller's voice came back on. 

"_Lonely Star_, what is the reason for your sudden maneuver?" Jaina stared at the comm as if the controller had just asked her to stand on her head and sing a Rodian tavern song.

"There is turbulence in the upper atmosphere," she said a bit snappishly. "We're not making any sudden moves."

"Nevertheless," said the controller, "reduce your speed and refrain from any…hotrodding." Jaina cut her thrust to almost nil and frowned stormily at her mother. Leia shrugged an apology.

"I told you it was high security."

"High paranoia is more like it," Jaina grumbled. At their granite-slug pace, it took a ridiculously long time to make a landing approach and set down. Jaina looked out the canopy at the tiny field, which had exactly one flitter parked on it. "Where're all the ships?"

"Most civilian traffic parks on the big communal field outside the city limits," said Leia. "But this is it for the embassy." Jaina voiced her opinion of that.

"This place is weird."

Zekk pointed outside. "There's the adoring throng." The throng consisted of the local New Republic ambassador, his assistant, and a scanning crew standing at rigid attention. Leia said, "Let me disembark first. If they see all of us they're liable to think it's an ambush."

"I'll believe that," said Jaina. She extended the boarding ramp for Leia. The ambassador put on her most diplomatic smile and moved surely down the ramp to the ambassador, a plump older man about Jaina's height. His smile was gracious, his handshake was sincere, and he made Jaina slightly nauseous. Zekk grimaced at the man's hearty, scrubbed appearance, spotless robes and perfectly combed hair. His assistant was a military corporal who was wearing enough good-conduct medals and commendation pendants to serve as a reflecting panel. 

The ambassador boomed in a hearty voice, "Ambassador Organa Solo, how honored we are that you would deign to visit our planet! I am Ambassador Tubb, and this is Corporal Delph, my assistant." Leia replied in a voice that suggested she was honored that Tubb was honored.

"It is a pleasure for me as well, Ambassador. Thank you for showing me such a display of hospitality." She turned to gesture to Jaina and Zekk.

"Your guard, I assume, is following in their own vessel?" said Ambassador Tubb before she could.

"Guard?" said Leia. 

"Your military escort," prompted the Ambassador. 

"I have no guard," said Leia casually. "You see, I consider this a bit of a working vacation. A family outing, if you will." She turned and waved her hand toward the _Lonely Star._ Jaina took this as a signal and nudged Zekk. Both Jedi moved down the ramp, backs straight and smiles on. "I've brought my oldest child, Jaina, and her good friend Zekk along with me." She smiled at Tubb as if there couldn't possibly be any objections. There were. Ambassador Tubb did a tiny double take and then faked a cordial expression. 

"Of course, Ambassador Solo, of course! I would be happy to arrange a diplomatic escort for them." 

"So we don't run amok in this charming place," whispered Zekk. Jaina stifled a chuckle, then spoke.

"Actually, we'd just like to look around on our own. It's more fun that way." The smile dropped off Ambassador Tubb's face. He obviously wasn't used to children speaking out of turn. 

"But, but, that just wouldn't be proper," he sputtered, sounding like Threepio on cheerful pills. He looked up the ship's ramp, as if expecting more people to emerge. "Now, I assume you have at least a small honor guard with you? I'm afraid they'll have to hand over their weapons until we reach the embassy. And also submit to a bioscan, just as you will—I do apologize, a minor formality." Leia readily held her arms out to the sides and let the scanning crew run over her. They did the same to Jaina and Zekk.

"Well," said Ambassador Tubb, still looking at the _Lonely Star_, "Where are they? Why don't they come forth?"

Leia said politely but firmly, "Ambassador, I don't know what you were expecting, but I have brought no one but myself, Jaina, and Zekk." Tubb seemed almost disappointed.

"As you wish, Ambassador Solo," he finally said. He gave his assistant a meaningful look, and Delph spoke briefly into a comlink he held. A moment later a landspeeder approached the field and drew to a stop. "This way, honored guests," said Ambassador Tubb grandly. He dismissed the scanning crew with a flick of his finger and they shuffled away. Ambassador Tubb waddled flamboyantly toward the landspeeder, with Delph at his heels and Leia walking beside him. He gestured with meaty arms as he extolled the virtues of Old Iziz. Zekk crinkled his face with dislike.

"I'm not a violent person, but I wish I could bop that guy on the head." Jaina frowned.

"I have a bad feeling that Onderon isn't as perfect as the venerable Ambassador would like Mom and us to think." 

"How so?" inquired Zekk. "There're definitely on the skittish side, but no one's hiding anything, as far as I can tell."

"Well," said Jaina speculatively, as she cast a glance at Tubb. He was standing by the speeder, bending Leia's ear about the native cuisine. "There was all of his blustering about the guards—did you catch how frantic he looked when Mom told him we were alone? And then there's Delph," she nodded at the patiently standing corporal, "who has a small but very capable blaster tucked into his waistband—" Zekk objected. 

"That's a holdout blaster."

"It _looks_ like a holdout blaster," Jaina corrected him. "I think it was, but Delph modified it for a full-charge powerpack. Not to mention Tubb himself, who would like us to think he's a carefree, slightly hearty bureaucrat…"

"Like us to think?" said Zekk, who looked completely confused. Jaina elaborated.

"_He's_ got a weapon too. Under his robe. And probably a vibroblade in his sleeve." Zekk bit his lip in a frown.

"You could tell all that just by looking at him and saying how-do-you-do? I'm doing something wrong."

"No, no," Jaina assured him. "You have to be looking for something before you find it. And the ambassador isn't carrying a blaster for _us_—it's for his protection. Something's going on here. I think it's good we came when we did."

After an excruciatingly slow landspeeder ride at Onderon's speed limit, they arrived at the embassy compound. Two boxy buildings were the embassy and barracks, on either side of a duracrete compound with a clump of uninspired landscaping in the center. 

Inside the barracks, Leia was given the diplomatic suite on the top floor, and Jaina and Zekk got luxurious adjoining rooms. The flat holos on Jaina's walls depicted Onderon's history, liberally laced with propaganda. They started with a vacuum view of the planet and it's three moons, then moved onwards with a portrait of Jedi Master Arca Jeth and his students, the first Watchmen of the system. Then there was a menacing flat of a large man on a war beast, who was identified as Oron Kira, flying low over the former, huge, Iziz, commemorating the Beast Wars. There was a gap of several millennia, and the holos resumed with Iziz during the Galactic Civil War, with a Rebel cargo ship in long view on the landing field. On closer inspection it turned out to be the _Millenium Falcon_. The rest of the images were of the present-day city—neutral, perfect, and dull. Jaina had a pretty good idea of what had gone on during the gap in the holographic history. The Sith Wars, the Clone Wars, the host of Freedon Nadd uprisings—in short, a great deal of bloodshed, much of it pointless, that was not fit to put on a guest room wall. Jaina stowed her gear in the opulent room and joined her mother and Zekk in the hallway. The group took a turbolift to the main floor and walked across the compound to the embassy proper. The areas of vandalism had been cordoned with opaque screens. Leia turned to the teenagers at the barrier. "You don't have to help me, you know. Let me give you some credits, you can rent a landspeeder, see the sights…"

"We want to help you," Jaina cut her off. "It will be good practice for Jedi assignments after we finish our training." Zekk nodded his agreement.

"You mean _real_ Jedi assignments, not just rushing off into the wild blue yonder like some we could mention?" asked Leia with a teasing smile. Jaina bit her lip and tried to hide her guilty smile in turn. 

"Exactly."

"All right, then," said Leia. "Listen to what the Ambassador says, and don't touch anything."

"Hey, do we look like amateurs?" said Zekk playfully. Leia flashed him a smile, and pulled back the screen. Delph was waiting for them. 

"I'll be glad to give you the grand tour, Ambassador Solo," he said, at the same time casting a questioning eye at Jaina and Zekk.

"Thank you, Corporal," said Leia, "but if you don't mind I'd like to walk around and get my own impression of the crime." 

Delph, looking slightly alarmed, made a quick recovery. 

"Well, I-I will accompany you!" he said cheerfully. He hurried after Leia as she began to walk.

"Were the security systems operational?" asked Leia. 

"Of course," said Delph promptly. "The Onderon embassy observes all security standards."

"Then how did the vandals gain entry?" asked Leia. "Could they have been Jed—Force users?"

"That's what we'd like to know," said Delph. He pointed to a closed door. "In here. This is the data room. As you can see," he hit the door release, "a mess." Jaina took in the scene of technological bedlam. The room was painfully clean, and at every station the memory drives were slagged. "Obviously, someone went into a mad frenzy," said Delph. 

"Someone was mad," said Zekk. "But not exactly frenzied. Look." As Jaina moved to examine one of the drives, she had to agree. The three slashes that tore the metal casing were identical in length, and had been made…with a vibroblade. It was then that Jaina got a bad feeling about the whole investigation.

"Not your common vandal," commented Zekk. 

"Not at all," said Jaina quietly. No patriotic fanatic ever used something as small and concentrated as a vibroblade. Why, when you could make your point in a much more destructive fashion by picking up one of the chairs in the room and smashing the screens and drives? Why? _That's the sixty-four credit question_, she thought.

Leia cast a sidelong glance at he daughter, picking up her thought change. She made a discreet gesture with her head. Jaina plucked at the black fabric of Zekk's shirt, and the two Jedi edged from the room to conduct a real investigation. 

There was an interspecies lounge down the hallway. Several atmospheric chambers and entertainment units within were decorated with violently colored adhesive patches. UNDER INVESTIGATION—OFF LIMITS, said the legend on one. "Ithorian, Sullustan, Chadra Fan—all trashed," said Jaina.

"Plus the methane chamber," added Zekk. "What's the relation?"

"All non-humanoid aliens," mused Jaina. "Ithorians only eat plants, Sullustans are tunneling, and Chadra Fan have supersonic hearing. They all breath oxygen, and they were all on the Alliance side during the Civil War." 

"You want my opinion?" said Zekk. "Whoever did this is off his gyros." Jaina went to the methane chamber, hoping for some insight. The vandal had tried to break the transparisteel wall, but only succeeded in leaving a bull's-eye crack. And there it was. The top-of-the line methane generator had been cut to bits. With a vibroblade. 

"I doubt even you could fix that," said Zekk. He reached out to touch the aerosol pump—which promptly fell off. "Oops." Jaina set the pump back on its mount and stared into the workings of the generator, able to conjure methane from air and a few chemical additives. It was a wonderfully complicated machine; most of the components were still in their proper place. But it would never work again. 

"What's in here?" said Zekk. He hit the release for a door near the chamber. It swished up to reveal an alcove with two lift tubes. Zekk's face fell.

"Let's go down," said Jaina suddenly. Zekk shook his head.

"I heard the sabotage was confined to this floor."

"Just come _on_, Zekk," said Jaina urgently. She pressed the call button for the tube. It arrived, and Jaina keyed for the lowest level. A basement/mini vehicle bay. One side of the bare room held three landspeeders; the other was stacked with storage boxes and shipping crates. Beyond that was a thin door set back in the wall. "There," said Jaina, more to herself than Zekk. She walked to the door and hit the release. 

It was a control room. Environment, electronics…security. Almost instantly Jaina's practiced eye detected the anomaly in the wiring board. A green wire was spliced with black, and red with blue. "Someone hot-wired the motion detectors," she said.

"And holocams," said Zekk. The niggling tickle on the edge of Jaina's mind suddenly came clear. 

"If they weren't Force-sensitive and able to hide themselves," she said. "There has to be at least one holocam that picked them up." Given this starting point, her mind rapidly arrived at the solution. Without ado, she ran for the lift tube. Zekk followed her, only to stumble over a shipping crate, bark his shin, and curse. Jaina turned as the crate toppled on its side with a crash. 

"Check it out," said Zekk in an astonished tone. He bent down and rummaged through the crate. "It's an even spilt between emergency rations and spare powerpacks."

"For blasters?" said Jaina in disbelief.

"Give the Jedi a prize," said Zekk. "Light rifles, mostly, and a few for heavy-gauge hand weapons." 

"With that and the rations, they're ready for a siege." Zekk didn't answer her, but he didn't need to.

Puzzled and anxious, Jaina and Zekk took the lift tube back to the main floor. Jaina consulted one of the holographic maps on the wall, and slipped around the crime barrier, heading for the security office. 

There was no guard monitoring the flatscreen holocam images of the embassy. Jaina scrolled down the list of backlogged recordings until she found what she was looking for. The recording from the service droid entrance the night of the vandalism. She entered a command at the keyboard, and the computer generated a holocube of the camera matriculation. Jaina whirled as the door slid open, but it was only Zekk. 

"Did you find what you were looking for?" he asked. Jaina held up the holocube. 

"Yeah. This is the holocam that picked up the vandals." Zekk nodded his admiration.

"Good work. Your mom will be happy." Jaina tapped her fingers nervously on the control panel.

"Zekk, do you feel anything _strange_ about this whole thing?"

"Depends how you define the parameters of _strange_," said Zekk. "We've got an embassy that's ready for a siege, ambassadors who run around with concealed weapons on a supposedly peaceful world, and vandals with no purpose. So yes, I guess I do."

Jaina shook her head. "No, what I feel is underneath all that—one component here doesn't quite fit. But I can't suppose which one."

"Well, if you have one of your famous Solo hunches," said Zekk, "I'd watch our steps. Especially with Tubb and company."

Jaina agreed, but still couldn't shake it… "I'm going to tell him what we found." Zekk crossed his arms.

"Do you think that's wise, after what we saw—"

"After," Jaina cut in, "you and I look at the holo we."

It was evening, and Leia had still not returned to the barracks. Jaina finally gave up waiting for her and decided to play the holocube. At the same moment there was a tap on her door. 

Zekk stood outside, fidgeting. "May I come in?" he asked formally. Jaina raised her eyebrows.

"Sure. You can watch the holocube with me." Zekk came in, but didn't sit. Jaina had known him long enough to see something was preying on his mind. "You okay, Zekk?" He started guiltily.

"Uh, sure, yeah. Just—let's see the holo," he said abruptly. Jaina inserted the cube into the tabletop player and a black image with a timer in the corner began to play. Jaina fast-forwarded through hours of an empty hall. But at twelve thirty, the door slid open. There was no indication that the vandals had forced the door—could they have gotten the access codes? There were three vandals, all men by the look. One had dark hair, and that was all Jaina could see. The vandals spilt up and disappeared. "Well, that was helpful," said Zekk sarcastically. 

"What we need is a holodecoder to enhance the picture and bit-map the frames so we cam manipulate them," said Jaina. "And it just so happens the _Lonely Star_'s entertainment center is programmed to decode as a secondary function." Zekk shook his head in wonderment.

"You think of everything, don't you?"

"Pretty much," said Jaina smugly. She deactivated the cube and stowed it in her pocket. Out of sheer boredom, she began to play with her holoprojector, finally patching into the Onderon news. There was to be a cross-country footrace the next day, the Spring Festival was staring in a week, and there was meteor shower that night. Jaina was unaware that Zekk had crossed the room to behind her until his finger broke up the projection. "Maybe we could go see that," suggested Jaina. The holoproj hissed with static. Zekk withdrew his finger.

"Yeah, because…"

"We didn't see the auroras on Coruscant." _Wrong thing to say!_ her mind flashed instantly. Zekk drew back and bit his lip. Jaina sensed his tenseness through the Force—and also that he wanted to tell her something. Zekk took a breath, and slowly forced his words out.

"Um, Jaina, listen to me," he said finally. "And don't interrupt until I've said this." He clasped his hands behind his neck, and then knitted his fingers together. "Um, that night, well, I wanted to clarify what happened, and, uh, we can talk about it and arrive at…" He passed a hand over his face. "That is not the way I wanted to say this."

"It's all right," said Jaina, although she wasn't sure she meant it. "Go ahead. I'm listening." 

"The thing is," said Zekk. "Is that, well, we've been friends for a long time, right?"

"Right," said Jaina cautiously. 

"And we can be honest. About the fact that maybe we are now something more?"

Was _that_ it? Zekk was as confused as she was, and looking for confirmation? Jaina smiled at Zekk in pure relief. "Yeah, Zekk, we are." Zekk's reaction was completely untoward. He closed his eyes and muttered something. It might have been 'oh, great'. Suddenly he faced her and spoke firmly.

"No, Jaina. That's not what I meant. We've come through a lot, and I've felt a lot of concern for you, and in the past few months I think the concern and the friendship might have gotten a little out of hand." His patronizing tone annoyed Jaina.

"What are you saying, Zekk?" she asked sharply.

"What I'm saying," said Zekk, " what I'm saying…" Then he decided to get it over with. "I think we overstepped some bounds that night, and I don't want you make anything out of it. It was nothing."

"_Nothing_?!" screeched Jaina. "You grab me and almost kiss me and it was _nothing_? Never mind leading me on for months before that—"

"I didn't—" objected Zekk.

"Oh yes you did!" Jaina yelled back. "You know what you did, too!" She jumped up and paced away from him. "And you waited a month to tell me!"

"Look, I-I-was just watching for the right time," said Zekk defensively. "And if you're going to get hysterical…"

"I am not hysterical, you two-faced Gammorean!" Jaina snapped. Zekk glared at her. Jaina's anger evaporated into the worst kind of confused sadness. "I thought you felt something for me, Zekk. I really did." 

"Well, Jaina," said Zekk. "You were wrong. I was just your friend. Your good friend. I hoped…your best friend."

"Friends can change," said Jaina softly. Zekk turned away.

"Don't do this, Jaina. It's already hard." Jaina didn't look at him. "I'm sorry," said the low, rich voice that Jaina had imagined saying so many things… "I'm sorry it was like this."

Jaina was proud that Zekk got out of the room before her first tears fell. 

****

A thin blue stun beam almost hit Boba Fett. 

"Good, Dengar," he called. The other man lowered the stun weapon and smirked. 

"I know." Boba Fett gritted his teeth and resisted the impulse to beat Dengar. He was actually not as stupid as Boba Fett had thought, and he picked up the localized stunner quickly enough. That was what they would use on Organa Solo. It fired a concentrated, solid beam from its point of origin, and carried enough juice to take out a gundark. But the solid beam made it devilishly hard to aim, and if you upped the power of the bolt a microwatt too much, you could kill just as easily as stun. Which was why they were practicing. Dengar clicked the safety onto the stunner and crossed the isolated, unused landing pad at the edge of Onderon's huge forest to Boba Fett. "You never told me how we're gonna get into the embassy. Only how to get out, and take off in separate ships."

This was what Boba Fett didn't want to tell Dengar, because the scarred bounty hunter's reaction was going to be fast and furious. "_I'm_ not going into the embassy. _You_ will go alone." 

"Me!" Dengar squealed, pointing the barrel of the stunner at his chest. 

"That's right," said Boba Fett with wintry calm. "I can't be seen. You can put on a uniform and stroll in." 

"_You_ put on a uniform," said Dengar. 

Boba Fett crossed his arms silently. Dengar glared at him. "Forget it. Forget it! I'm not going in alone!"

"I thought you wanted Organa Solo," said Boba Fett in an I'm-very-disappointed tone. "I thought you were dedicated. You frustrate me, Dengar."

"Tough," said Dengar.

"Maybe your hates not as strong as I thought," continued Boba Fett, "if you don't even want to kidnap the woman who killed your wife." Tormented indecision played over Dengar's face. His better instincts warned him that walking into a New Republic embassy was suicide…but then his Imperial programming took over. 

"All right, Fett," he said in a low tone. "Can you find a uniform that will fit me?"

****

When Leia arrived back at the barracks, Jaina had dried her eyes, washed her face, and gotten herself mostly under control. She showed Leia the holocube, and voiced her opinion. Leia agreed that Ambassador Tubb should be informed so he could concentrate the investigation in the right direction. 

Jaina and Leia were waiting for a turbolift when a door down the hall slid open and Zekk called out. "Going to meet the ambassador?" Jaina didn't turn around, but Leia looked over her shoulder, maybe sensing the bold shift in Jaina's feelings. 

"Yes, Zekk," was all she said. "Are you coming?"

"I think so," said Zekk. "Jaina and I can probably give a more complete report if I come along." Jaina savagely hit the button for the turbolift again. Why was Zekk doing this? He'd delivered his fatal wound and retreated. Why did he have to make it worse? 

Jaina wondered later if it was the Force.

The barracks lobby was crowded with diplomats and military personnel getting off work, and busy officials sending out for evening meal. Politicians that had been meeting with Ambassador Tubb in his office were leaving. Leia had picked an opportune time. The crowd was why Jaina, Leia and Zekk didn't hear the yelling voice until they were almost to the suite of political offices. "Zekk? _Zekk?_" Jaina turned, hand on her lightsaber. A human male of about nineteen or twenty with clipped black hair was hurrying across the lobby, dodging off-duty embassy staff. A huge smile lit his face. What struck Jaina the most was his eyes; a deep, pure green like emeralds. The same unique color as Zekk's. "Zekk!" the man cried, holding out his arms. "Is it really you?" 

Zekk's already pale skin went white as Hoth snow. "_Corzak_?" he breathed. "Corzak! You're dead!"

CHAPTER

4

The man shook his head emphatically. "No, Zekk, it's me! In the flesh." He grinned wider, as if he'd just said the funniest thing in the galaxy. Zekk blinked once, as if to dispel a vision. Leia caught up with them.

"Who is this, Zekk?" she asked. Zekk turned to her, unsure of what to say. The man stepped up and bowed to Leia.

"My name is Corzak," he said. "I'm Zekk's brother." It was Jaina's turn to gape.

"Brother?" she said softly, shocked. "No. Zekk doesn't have a brother."

"Uh, well," said Zekk. "I didn't _think_ I had a brother. Not anymore. But," a one sided smile crept over his face, "I guess I do!"

"You _do_!" agreed Corzak, who had never stopped grinning. Jaina reached out through the Force, detected nothing but sincerity and happiness coming from Corzak. 

"Would you mind explaining, Zekk?" asked Leia sweetly. She gave the dark-haired boy an _I'm waiting and it better be good _look. 

"Okay," said Zekk. He swallowed. "Um, this is kind of complicated."

Leia indicated a meeting booth that had just been vacated. "In here," she said. The four trooped into the booth and sat in the comfortable executive chairs. Corzak remained standing. 

"Perhaps I should explain," he said. "I'm Zekk's brother."

Zekk interrupted. "He _was_ my brother. Or, I thought he _was_. Technically, Corzak's my stepbrother. He's three years older, from my mother's first marriage." Despite Corzak's offer, Zekk was pouring out his story. "He lived with my mother's ex husband in a large town on the other side of Ennth. And the last I heard…he and my mother's ex husband were killed in a landspeeder accident." Corzak's face was mournful.

"Yes," he agreed, "Father was killed. But I'm alive, Zekk." His voice trembled, but he took a breath and a hold on himself. "You know, it took some doing to find you. I've been chasing you all over Known Space. Cloud City, Kessle, Ord Mantell—you've been a busy boy. And now," he gave Leia and Jaina a charming smile, "I find you in such illustrious company." Zekk bit his lip.

"How did you survive, Corzak? The landspeeder ran into a harvesting machine. It completely exploded."

"I jumped," said Corzak, a little sheepishly. "And, well," he indicated his right leg. Under the tight cloth of his pants there was a slight bump on his thigh. "The harvester and I tried to take the same path of escape. When I heard that Mother had been killed in the eight year cycle, I left."

"So did I," said Zekk quietly. Corzak nodded.

"I know." He sat down and rubbed his leg. "I couldn't walk for a long time. I finally found a surgeon—halfway across the galaxy—who could repair my leg into some semblance of what it used to be. It was only a standard year ago that I started searching for you." 

He looked at Zekk in mute apology. "I was too busy living with my own pain. I'm sorry, Zekk. I should have found you sooner." 

Jaina was so moved by this eloquent speech she wanted to throw up. More and more as the older man talked, she sensed some deception about Corzak. But what? She contemplated probing Corzak's mind, but decided that if she did that and he really was Zekk's brother, Zekk would never forgive her. Not that she cared anymore. 

Zekk was smiling now, a tentative but very relieved smile. "I can't believe you're alive, Corzak. I thought I'd lost my whole family."

"No, you're still stuck with me," grinned Corzak. Zekk grinned back. Jaina noted with a measure of anger that he seemed to have forgotten all about Peckum. 

Corzak stood up and enfolded Zekk into a muscular embrace. Leia touched Jaina's arm. "We have to go meet Ambassador Tubb," she said softly to her daughter. "See you later, Zekk. At evening meal."

"Yeah, sure," said Zekk. He turned back to Corzak, who had sat again in his chair.

"Well, little brother," he said. "We've got a lot of catching up to do." Jaina and Leia went to meet Ambassador Tubb, leaving the two brothers alone. 

The ambassador was reclining in his opulent office chair. He had a glass of Corellian brandy at his elbow, and a smile of welcome for Leia and Jaina. "Come in, come in," he said. "I understand you've discovered something, Ambassador Solo."

"Actually," said Leia, "it was Jaina. She seems to have discovered something your team overlooked." Ambassador Tubb frowned for a nanosecond, then his smile came back on. 

"What have you found?" He addressed Leia again. Leia looked at Jaina. 

Jaina said, "The vandals used the service droid entrance. As you know, there's only one camera in that part of the hall, and the motion detectors in the interspecies lounge can be avoided by a reasonably coordinated life form trying to reach the turbolifts. There were three vandalists, none of them amateurs. One went down into the hangar bay and hot-wired the holocams and motion detectors, and the other two went about their business as it were." Jaina paused for impact, because she seemed to be having no effect on Ambassador Tubb. "We have a holo recording of all three vandals, from he service hall cam. From the way they got in and acted, I don't think this was an act of racism or terrorism." Tubb's eyebrows shot up.

"Wha-what else could it be?" he sputtered. 

"A professional job," put in Leia. "Someone was very probably hired to do this."

"But for what reason? For what possible reason?" cried Ambassador Tubb. "I find your deductions highly illogical! And, well—may I be frank, Ambassador Solo?" 

"Please," said Leia.

"I think your daughter has stepped grossly out of line. She took holocam cubes from the embassy without my permission, and she and her friend were strolling around contaminating a crime scene!" Leia's face was pleasant but her tone was icy. 

"Ambassador Tubb, Jaina has had more experience with terrorism and crime than most of your investigative team put together. She knows exactly what she's doing, and she would never knowingly contaminate a crime scene. As for her removing the security holos, may I remind you that _I_ am heading this investigation, and I sanction her actions. Officially." She stared levelly at the ambassador. "Furthermore, Jaina and Zekk have discovered more in one afternoon than you have in almost a Standard week." Ambassador Tubb's face was red with anger and humiliation. He groped for some way to regain control of the situation. 

"Well, you still have to turn the holocube over to me," he snapped. "So the investigators can hopefully glean something from it."

"I already tried," said Jaina. "You get a good look at all three vandal's faces when they break in, but the camera has limited infrared capabilities, so there's no way to identify them. All I know is one guy had black hair." 

"Oh, how helpful," said Ambassador Tubb more than a little sarcastically. He pursed his plump lips.

"However," said Jaina, ignoring his attitude, "our consular ship has a top-notch holodecoder. I'm sure you could use the holo if I could decode and bitmap it." 

"I don't think so, young lady," said Ambassador Tubb. "You've…contributed quite enough to this investigation already. My team will take over from here. Thank you." He dismissed her with a hand. Jaina opened her mouth to retort, but Leia laid a hand on her shoulder and guided her out of the office. 

Outside the door Jaina stopped and turned to her mother. "You're not going to let him get away with that?" Leia sighed. 

"Someday, Jaina, you'll understand the way people like Tubb think. I do, and I can tell you right now you'll have to give him the holo." 

"But he's not going to _do_ anything with it!" said Jaina. "He thinks I'm a joke, and the holo is just going into some evidence bin! We'll never find out who did this if I can't work on that tapes!" _Or _why, she thought. She hadn't told Leia about the odd tingle that was still in the back of her head. 

"I'm sorry, Jaina," said Leia simply. 

Her mother was going to evening meal, but Jaina wasn't hungry. She called for a turbolift in the main lobby. While she was waiting, her glance strayed to the meeting booth where they had left Corzak and Zekk. The light was still on. 

The turbolift came, and Jaina went back to her room.

****

Boba Fett appraised the man in front of him. He was big and burly, wearing a New Republic junior liaison uniform and cap. The uniform strained at his huge shoulders. Dengar fidgeted nervously with the collar

"It's too tight." 

"It was the best I could do," said Boba Fett. He handed Dengar a junior liaison carrycase, which held the stunner and a few other pieces of equipment. "Now remember, if you can't get a perfect shot at Organa Solo, don't do it. This is primarily a recon mission. Alright?" Dengar's scarred face clouded.

"I still don't see why I gotta do this alone." 

"I _told_ you," said Boba Fett. "Now get going!" 

"And I still don't see why I gotta _walk_," said Dengar as he moved down the _Slave IV_'s boarding ramp. 

"Because you can't steal a diplomatic landspeeder in a place like this," said Boba Fett impatiently. "And a walk won't hurt you a bit." He raised the ramp before Dengar could make anymore protests. 

Dengar set off on the long trek to the embassy. He passed through the outer wall of Old Iziz without more than a cursory glance from the sentry droid. 

He showed his pass at the embassy gate, hoping the forged credential Boba Fett had found would work. The bored human guard in the sentinel box barely looked at the pass, and Dengar relaxed. These people were disinterested to the point of being comatose. Probably he could drive an AT-ST into the courtyard and not draw more than a glance. 

It was nearing closing time at the embassy. Diplomats were trickling out of the political building and heading back to barracks. A few sleepy military guards walked languidly to take up sentry posts for the night. Dengar joined the civilians going through the automatic doors. 

In the lobby of the barracks, he pretended to be busy at a computer terminal, punching keys at random. At seven p.m. CGT, the closing chime rang. Life forms that didn't live in the compound collected their gear and left, shepherded along by a reception droid who then checked the passes of everyone left in the lobby. It looked at Dengar's, murmured "The terminals close at nine, sir," and went on. 

Three and half-hours later, Dengar was cramped and hot. He was stuffed into a closet full of cleaning equipment. He hoped no nosy service droids happened on him. He checked his chronometer. The Onderon curfew was just coming into effect and the sleep period had begun in the barracks. 

Dengar eased open the door to the closet manually. He slipped down the hall, past thick durasteel doors that concealed the rooms of Onderon's high officials. He paused once to check a softly glowing holomap, and then made a right turn towards the diplomatic suite, which was clearly marked as such. The door was locked, although the lock could be easily broken with a multitool and a little ingenuity. Dengar had begun to pry off the access panel when he heard the whoosh of a turbolift and two male voices making steady progress down the hall. One of them said, "I'm at the Onderon Palace Hotel. See you in the morning, Zekk." 

Zekk! And the former bounty hunter was coming this way! Dengar cursed himself for not bringing a regular blaster. He could have taken out Zekk in one swift move and no one would ever know. But with a huge effort, Dengar fought back his rage. Zekk's companion would certainly be in earshot if he tried to shoot the younger man, and in unarmed combat Zekk would put up a fight that just might bring Onderon Security running. 

Dengar stuffed his multitool back in his pocket and took off down the hall. A residual piece of his Imperial training told him he was the worst kind of coward. But Boba Fett had said this was a recon mission. His wife had taken away the power the Empire had over him. And anyway, wasn't discretion the better part of valor? 

****

Jaina woke up to her mother knocking on her door. She rolled out of bed and half-walked, half-stumbled across the room, not quite awake. Leia looked like she had been up for hours and had slept without interruption. Jaina concealed a yawn with a smile. "'Morning, Mom." 

"Good morning," said Leia brightly. "Listen, I need to make out a report on the embassy investigation, but you know the primary reason we came here was to look into the Jedi rumors?" Jaina nodded and yawned again.

"Yup." 

"So I thought," said Leia, "Perhaps you could go out and scout around a bit."

"Sure, I guess," said Jaina. She tried to comb her hair into place with her fingers. Several tufts of her bangs stuck straight out from a restless night. "Just let me throw on some clothes. Am I taking a landspeeder?" Leia clasped her hands and gave Jaina her best persuasive smile.

"Well, that's the thing. Apparently the sightings have been in the foothills of the one of the mountain ranges—terrain incompatible with landspeeders."

"Oh, so it's a speeder bike," said Jaina. "Okay, I'll—" 

"Speeder bikes are outlawed on Onderon," said Leia. 

"Er, so what does that leave?" asked Jaina, "Walking my boots off? Skyhopper? Swoop?" Leia shook her head.

"You know what the native method of transportation is…" 

"No!" Jaina held up her hand to forestall the notion. "Oh no!" 

"Come on, Jaina," said Leia. "It's only once."

"_Jacen_'s the animal person," said Jaina. The 'native transportation' of Onderon was a huge flying bird/reptile called a warbeast. Vicious unless completely tame, even then bad-tempered. Jacen, she knew, would jump at the chance to fly one, and as far as Jaina was concerned he was welcome. 

"Ambassador Tubb has promised to find a docile one for you," said Leia. 
    
    "Oh, that completely reassures me," said Jaina. 

"Honey, this would really help me," said Leia seriously. Jaina thought about it for a minute, then heaved a sight. 

"Oh, alright. Just let me find some clothes suitable for committing suicide." Leia took no notice of this.

"Thank you, Jaina," she said cheerfully. "I knew I could count on you." She shut the door. 

"You owe me, Mom," muttered Jaina. She picked up yesterday's flightsuit from the floor and decided it could be worn again. She added her spacer's boots and, after a moment of debate, her tool belt. She attached her multitool, an emergency medpack and her lightsaber. 

As she was tightening the loop around her Jedi weapon, her door opened without invitation. It was Zekk. "Hi, Jaina," he said cautiously.

"What do you want?" snapped Jaina without preamble. 

"Um, I heard you were going to check out the Jedi children," he said. 

"What of it?" said Jaina. 

"Well, the Onderon forest can be pretty dangerous, especially if you're riding a warbeast," he said. 

"Your point is?" said Jaina as she double-checked her medpack. Zekk bit his lip.

"Jaina, I'm sorry about last night, okay? I didn't say what I meant to; it came out all wrong. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I hurt you." His green eyes with their dark coronas looked incredibly regretful. "I would never hurt you, Jaina." Jaina looked at him.

"Do you really mean that, Zekk?" He nodded.

"Yes." Jaina felt anger well in her.

"You _did_ hurt me. I don't care how good your intentions were, it was an awful thing to do. And now that I know how you feel, I don't think you should be trying to sweet-talk me!" Zekk was taken aback. He opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again. 

"Jaina, no. I didn't mean what I said that way! I'm still on your side here."

"Funny way of showing it," said Jaina sharply.

"Alright, Jaina," said Zekk, equally sharply. "I've apologized. You don't need to be so damn snippy." Jaina glared at him. _How dare he…_ But then the rage that had been festering for hours was gone. Zekk—opinionated, brash, cocky Zekk—was back. He wouldn't be stiff or hesitating anymore. She heaved a sigh. 

"Sorry."

"That's okay," said Zekk, and Jaina knew he was, once again, someone she could be completely genuine with and Zekk would still like her. 

"You can come with me if you want," said Jaina. 

"Sure. Let me get my gear," said Zekk. He gave her a quick smile as he ducked out of the room. 

Jaina was still painfully aware of how matters still stood between them. _Just friends_. There wasn't a more hateful set of words in the galaxy. 

A short time later Jaina and Zekk were at a warbeast stable on the northern wall of Old Iziz. They watched a wrangler saddle two beasts, supposedly tame. The giant creatures, which looked like dewbacks with wings, made low moans and tossed their heads against the bridles. Zekk raised an eyebrow high. "They expect us to _ride_ those things?" 

"Uh-huh," said Jaina with about as much enthusiasm as she would muster for one of Borsk Feyl'ya's speeches. She walked over and took the reins of one beast. 

"Pull the reins back to stop, and left or right to turn," said the unbearably sportive wrangler. "They're very docile." Jaina gave a start as her beast jerked the reins and moaned again. 

"Docile. Right," she muttered. What would Jacen do? She reached out with a soothing thought for the beast's mind. _Calm. You are calm. Hold still._ It didn't totally work, but the creature stopped groaning and lowered its head. The wrangler tapped the beast's knee, and it crouched to let the Jedi climb on. Zekk's did the same. Zekk was wearing spacer's pants and boots, a black vest and off-white shirt. Jaina noticed that in addition to his lightsaber he had one of his formerly double blasters strapped on. 

Jaina's warbeast was now so docile Jaina was a bit perturbed. "How do you get it to go?" she called to the wrangler. 

"Just tell him 'hi-ya'," he said.

Jaina nudged the beast with her heels. "Hi—_yaaaa_," she yelled as the beast took off and almost unseated her. 

Their beasts leveled off three meters above the ground. The flight was slow and rocking, like an open airspeeder. Jaina yelled above the rushing wind to Zekk. "The sightings have been about ten kilometers to the north of here."

"Up in those foothills," Zekk called back. The foothills rose gray against the conifers of Onderon's forest. Behind them were some incredibly tall mountains. Jaina tugged at the hide bridle, and her warbeast altered direction accordingly. 

The two beasts flew at a speed fast enough to slick Jaina's hair back for nine and a half kilometers and didn't seem tired in the least. 

"We should land there," Zekk suggested. He pointed to a clearing below. "Don't want them to think we're attacking!" Jaina nodded and pulled back on her beast's reins. It caught an air current and coasted down, wings wide. Feeling Jaina's weight lighten, the beast knelt again. She slid off as Zekk landed on then other side of the clearing. 

"Y'know," he said, "that was actually kind of fun." Jaina raised an eyebrow.

"Whatever, Zekk." 

After tethering, unsaddling and watering their beasts, Jaina and Zekk set out for the Jedi cave. The forest floor was needle-covered and dappled with sun, and the ancient trees made them speak in hushed voices. Jaina felt that the millennia-old woodland was alert and watching. Almost…hostilely. She shivered and walked faster. Zekk hadn't said a word, and he kept checking the charge on his blaster. When an unseen avian let out a caw, both Jedi jumped. 

Jaina was very relieved when the trees began to thin, presently revealing a shallow ravine. The first of the foothills rose on the other side. Directly across from Jaina was a grassy plateau, with a cave mouth carved out of the hill on the far side, and on the plateau she could see people. 

Two children tossed a ball, watched over by a man with white hair. The scene was so innocent and happy that Jaina smiled involuntarily. She was drawn into a memory of her childhood…_Jacen, almost two, throws the ball, little Jaya catches it…baby Anakin wants to play…we let him…_ Zekk spoke at her elbow.

"Hear that?" Jaina snapped out of her trance. Where had she been?

"Hear what, Zekk? There's nothing." She turned to him, realizing. "All the birds have stopped. It's quiet." 

"Yeah," said Zekk grimly. 

Jaina's bad feeling multiplied by ten. She took a breath and tried to shake it off. 

"I wish I'd brought some macrobinoculars," she said. "Get a better look before we go over there." 

"We're not here to spy on them," said Zekk, but he lacked conviction. 

"Then why aren't we going over and introducing ourselves?" said Jaina. 

"I am," said Zekk. He started down the side of the ravine. Jaina followed him before she lost her nerve. 

As the two Jedi came to the rocky bottom of the ravine, a stray cloud obscured Onderon's sun. Zekk, who had been striding ahead confidently, stopped short. The back of Jaina's neck prickled. It was a danger warning, one she would do well to heed. Jaina reached out with the Force. The more she walked, the stronger the sensation became. Zekk had not moved. Jaina stopped next to him. The children still played in the meadow. 

Jaina saw nothing that would harm them. The ravine had once been a river, but it was dry and dusty now. She shut her eyes, willing herself to remain calm, and sent out a gentle probe in every direction. Though her eyes were closed, she could see the ravine in perfect detail, only now the Force was poking and prodding behind rocks, into crevices, into the earth itself. A portion of the ravine floor suddenly flared as if it were on a holographic sensor screen. Red. Dangerous. But all Jaina could see was a rock. No…it was…under the rock. Jaina moved the rock with a glowing strand of the Force. Zekk's gasp snapped her eyes open. There, half-buried in the soil, sat a sonic detonator. A square proximity trigger was attached to the top, and it was lying not more than two meters from the Jedi, directly in their path across the ravine. 

Jaina heard the beeps of the proximity sensor counting down. She had no time to react. She didn't have to. Zekk used the Force to yank the detonator out of the ground and destroy the proximity sensor in a puff of smoke. But the signal had been sent. Zekk wavered in confusion. 

Jaina imploded the workings of the sonic detonator with one thrust of the Force. It dropped from where Zekk had suspended it and clunked on the ground, countdown frozen at zero. 

"I guess the anti-Jedi faction on Onderon is a lot bigger than we thought," said Zekk shakily. 

"Jaina, this is not a good idea," Zekk said. 

"I don't give a damn about that," said Jaina. "Someone just tried to kill us and I want an explanation!" Zekk bit his lip.

"It wasn't for _us_, Jaina. It was to defend themselves."

"My left thruster pod it was," snapped Jaina. "Zekk, it was a _sonic_ detonator. It would have fried our neural pathways outright, and deafened those people over there for life. No one is crazy enough to take that risk. Unless they won't be around." Leaving Zekk to ponder this deduction, she strode across the ravine bed and began to climb the other side. Zekk muttered an uncomplimentary remark about Solo impetuousness and followed her.

When they reached the lip of the plateau, Zekk had his lightsaber unclipped from his belt. Jaina glared silently at him, and he reluctantly put it back. The children were still playing ball. The old man watching them was very tall and thin, wearing a brown robe. The innocuous scene no longer drew Jaina in. She placed a hand on her lightsaber and took a deep breath. 

They were halfway across the plateau when the old man saw them. His mouth dropped open. The children abandoned the ball and ran to him. The man held them protectively and stared with terror at Jaina and Zekk. His voice quavered uncontrollably as he called out. 

"W-w-who are you?" The smaller of the golden-haired children took a piece of the man's robe in his fist. The gesture made Jaina take her hand away from her lightsaber. These people weren't the threat. But the danger was still with her. She pushed it to the back of her mind. She was on a diplomatic mission. Never mind she'd almost lost her life, never mind she's been drawn into an almost hypnotic stupor by…someone. 

"I'm Jaina Solo," she said pleasantly. "I'm a representative of the New Republic." She kept walking until she was a meter away from the man. "This is my associate, Zekk." Zekk nodded silently. 

The old man switched his gaze from Jaina to him and back. "You are from the N-n-new R-republic?" he whispered. Jaina nodded and smiled. The man's body language relaxed a bit. "I am Kerros," he said. "Why are you here?" He appraised them again. "P-p-perhaps I know. If you have heard any rumors, I can assure you they are e-e-exaggerated." 

"What have you done to start a rumor?" asked Jaina. 

"_Nothing_," said Kerros a degree to sharply. Deep frown lines appeared in his face. "What have you heard?"

"That you have three children living with you," said Jaina. "Three…Force-sensitive children." She didn't know why, but suddenly relief lit Kerros's face. 

"Yes, that is right—" he began. The larger of the two children spoke.

"Shut up, Kerros!" His voice was high and thin, like an insectoid whine. He gave Jaina and Zekk a malevolent glare. "What do you _really_ want?" he demanded. 

Jaina answered him as an equal. "We are here on a diplomatic mission. My uncle, Luke Skywalker, is a Jedi Master. He's always eager for new potential to be discovered." 

Kerros gripped the boy's shoulder to quiet him, but the child shook him off. The old man's former terrified look had returned when the child spoke. "Solo," he said. "Jaina Solo? You _are_ the daughter of Ambassador Leia Organa Solo?"

"Ye-es," said Jaina hesitantly. The child spoke up again. 

"Oh, so you're Jaina Solo." He gave a cute smile. "I'm sorry, Jaina Solo. I think I was rude." 

"That's alright," said Jaina. He was just like Anakin had been when he was the kid's age. Kerros still looked like he was about to be eaten by piranha beetles. 

"Do you want to see our cave, Jaina Solo?" asked the child. 

Jaina smiled at him and bent down so they were face-to-face. 

"I would _love_ to see your cave, um…"

"My name is Nevern, Jaina Solo. I have a big brother and a little brother and they're named Avern and Havern." He took the sleeve of her flightsuit and tugged. Kerros looked on frantically.

"Nevern, I don't think—" His words were choked off. Kerros's mouth worked silently for a moment, and then he cocked his head as if he were listening. Nevern chattered on. 

"I heard you talk about the Force. We use the Force with Kerros. It's fun. We like it. Do you use the Force, Jaina Solo?"

Jaina gaped. So it was true. The children were Jedi. She'd found them. 

"See the cave," said Nevern. Jaina and Zekk followed Nevern and his brother across the plateau to the cave. Kerros walked mutely, terror still on his face. But Jaina's bad feeling was gone. There was no evil here. She was turning paranoid.

The cave dwelling was primitive. The only light was a fire on the floor that danced up the curved walls and cast eerie shadows. Four cots made of wood with bark still on it were arranged around the fire, and some cookpots were stacked in a corner. 

Nevern skipped around the fire and sat on the second smallest cot. His brother joined him there. Kerros stood, rigid. 

"As I said before," Jaina addressed Nevern. "My uncle is a Jedi Master, and he also established the Jedi academy on Yavin 4. He'd love to have you as students there, or train you individually with another master, I'm sure, although you two a little young." 

"Avern's nineteen," piped up Havern. 

"He uses the Force," said Nevern. 

"He's the perfect age," said Jaina. "He can start his training anytime." Zekk gave her a small frown. "That is, if he _wants_ to be a Jedi," she amended. 

"_I_ want to, Jaina Solo," said Nevern, bouncing on the pallet. "I do!" Jaina and Zekk chuckled. Jaina was growing to like Nevern; he was so cheerful and intelligent. She could stay here all day…

There was a rustle from the rear of the cave. Jaina jerked back to alertness. That strange stupor again…it had overcome her when she'd stated talking to Nevern… There was a click as Zekk unsnapped his holster. 

The moment Jaina connected Nevern to the strange hypnosis she'd been fighting, the minute she stopped _trusting_ the child, her danger sense came flooding back in a tsunami of awareness. This was a trap. This was a trap she'd walked willingly into. This was bad. 

A heavy durasteel door rolled into place across the opening of the cave. Jaina and Zekk whirled, weapons drawn, only to see Kerros keel over and hit the floor with a thump.

"Zekk!" Jaina's voice cracked with alarm. She could feel the Force again—the dark side. It was manifested close by them. It was…

"Avern, what took you so long?" said Nevern. "They almost caught on." Jaina and Zekk whirled again in perfect unison. 

They faced a young man with light brown hair and eyes. His face was an older, nastier version of Nevern and Havern's. He smiled thinly at the two Jedi. "Welcome," he said. "I hope you've enjoyed your stay on Onderon—we tried to pick a nice place for you to die."

He casually detached a lightsaber from his belt. It was smooth and brown and looked more like polished wood than a metal weapon. Avern fingered the lightsaber, tossed it from hand to hand. He suddenly focused on Zekk, yanking his blaster out of holster with the dark side. Zekk reached out smoothly and caught it before it could fly to Avern's hand. 

Avern frowned slightly and the blaster jerked out of Zekk's grasp once more, leaving a raw patch on his palm. 

"You are foolish," said Avern. "Just like all Jedi are." 

Jaina gripped her lightsaber in her left hand, pointing at the floor. She could ignite and snap it up in a millisecond, and she was fully prepared to have to. 

"What do you want?" she asked Avern. He gave another humorless smile.

"Oh, it's not a question of what I _want_," he said. "It is a question of how quickly I can dispose of you two." 

"How about never?" said Zekk in voice so dangerous Jaina felt a chill up _her_ spine. Avern merely raised an eyebrow.

"My, you _are_ confident. But your proposal, I regret to say, is highly unlikely." He held the lightsaber in a ready grip. "I have learned the Jedi weaknesses, and learned them well. I should, I used your own device."

"Our device?" said Jaina, puzzled.

"What's the matter, stupid girl?" said Avern scathingly. "You have never heard of a Holocron?"

"A _what_?" gasped Jaina. 

"Your ears did not fail you," said Avern smugly.

"But the only Holocron still in existence belonged to Master Bodo Baas," said Jaina in a tone of incredulity, "and it was destroyed years ago." 

"Wrong," said Avern. "This is Master Arca Jeth's personal Holocron—incomplete, granted, but invaluable to a Jedi." He taunted Jaina with a grin. "It's right here in the nook. Come and take it…Jedi." 

The firelight danced, and Jaina suddenly saw the glowing cube, in the wall over Avern's shoulder. She was about to step forward. Zekk gripped her shoulder, hard. "No," he hissed. Jaina shook him off, still staring in wonder. Another Holocron. She took a step towards the niche. 

There was a _snap-hiss_ as Avern ignited his deep yellow lightsaber. "Not another step," he said. "I can feel how badly you want the Holocron. But," he smiled, "nothing in this life is free." 

Jaina did indeed want the Holocron. It would aid the Jedi Knights immensely, even if it wasn't complete. And…Jaina hesitated to allow the thought—she would enjoy the glory of being the one to find it. The first to use it. Use it to gain more power…

"Will you pay the price, Jedi?" asked Avern. He slashed at Jaina, not really intending to wound, but to provoke the two. It worked. In an oiled motion gained from months of practice, Zekk switched on his lightsaber and cut. Avern barely looked at the younger man as he deflected. He was fast, but his movements weren't graceful. He was jerky, like a…puppet.

Avern positioned himself in front of the niche, saber up. Zekk came at him again, but in what was either excellent swordsmanship or incredible luck, Avern parried and knocked Zekk's blade away. The flame-colored saber spun out of the Jedi's reach. Too far for Zekk to dive for it. His hands came up in a defensive position. 

Jaina knew that Avern was capable of delivering a massive jolt to Zekk's mind with the dark side, and that without his lightsaber he didn't stand a chance. Zekk crooked his finger and tried to deactivate Avern's weapon with the Force to no avail. The boy was too strong. But Zekk was a powerful Jedi, and he was throwing all of that power at Avern. Who was totally focused on him. 

In a practiced motion of her own, Jaina leapt across the cave, lightsaber coming on as she moved. Avern slashed at Zekk, Jaina came between them, and the two weapons met in a shower of sparks. 

Zekk danced out of the way, trying to get around Avern to the Holocron. Avern struck out with his lightsaber, but Jaina blocked him, saving Zekk yet again. The dark-haired Jedi moved clear of the fight, trying to find his own weapon. 

Avern concentrated his hate on Jaina, who parried and cut at him, moving nimbly on the balls of her feet. Nevern and his brother watched them like they were a good holofilm. 

Avern stabbed at Jaina's midriff. She brought her saber under his in a parry; then, with all her strength, circled the weapon up and around Avern's. He stumbled away from the Holocron and Jaina took his place in front of the niche. Avern spat a perfectly crude insult at her as he regained his balance.

"Zekk, get the Holocron," said Jaina tightly. She stared into Avern's eyes, trying to anticipate his next move. Zekk took the Holocron from the niche and stowed it in his vest.

This redoubled Avern's anger, and he flew at Jaina with pure hate in his eyes. Jaina could barely counterattack his furious onslaught.

Avern seemed to come at her from all sides at once, face in a terrifying grimace. He was physically almost twice as strong as Tenel Ka, and Jaina was sure each cut would strike her lightsaber out of her sweaty hands. All she could see was a blur of dark yellow. Jaina tried to slice at Avern's ribs—no avail. Her arms ached, she was soaked with sweat, she was tired…so tired…

A blaze of flame-colored light appeared at her shoulder. 

"Fleethund," hissed Zekk in her ear. Jaina had no idea what he meant. A fleethund maneuver was used in a space battle to draw away an attacker. It wasn't used in hand to hand combat, certainly…

Zekk took Avern off her hands for a moment to let her rest. As he staggered back under the boy's blow, Jaina stepped in once again and took the brunt of his assault. It was a noble and foolish gesture. Avern slashed at her shoulder, and Jaina did not block fast enough. She crumpled to the ground, screaming in pain. Zekk jumped in, only to be kicked back like a nek by Avern. Jaina lay still on the floor. 

Zekk bumped the wall, dazed…

Avern lifted his lightsaber over his head like a fishing spear, preparing to drive it into Jaina's back. 

Jaina rolled over and kicked Avern in the kneecap. As his saber came down her blade came up, ignited, and cut off Avern's hand, all inside a split second. "Fleethund," Jaina said triumphantly. 

Kerros was still out cold, back against the durasteel door. Zekk shook him awake. The old man shrank back from Zekk, babbling incoherently. Jaina switched off her lightsaber and came over.

"How do you open the door?" Kerros snapped his head to look at her. 

"Y-y-you have defeated the master!" he cried. The next thing Jaina knew Kerros was clutching at her knees. "My lady, I serve you!" he gasped. As he straightened up, Zekk suddenly backhanded him across the face. Kerros sprawled, unconscious again.

"Zekk!" said Jaina in shock. 

"Don't yell at me just yet," said Zekk. He uncurled one of Kerros's clenched hands. The old man had been holding a crude steel knife, preparing to drive it into Jaina's midriff. Jaina looked at the man, then at Zekk. 

"Okay, no yelling," she agreed with a tremble in her voice. 

Across the cave Avern groaned. Blood seeped out of his arm as the cauterization from Jaina's weapon wore off. 

Zekk collected his blaster from a dim corner of the cave and holstered it. He came back to Kerros and jerked him up by the arm. A sharp slap brought the old man back to consciousness. 

"Open the door—now!" Zekk snapped at him. Kerros withered under the Jedi's grip. He pressed a hidden release in the wall, and the door slid upwards, letting in a blaze of sunlight. 

Jaina took time to slap a graft bandage on Avern's stump. He groaned feebly again, and then his eyes flickered open. 

"Ohhh," he exhaled in pain. "What happened?" His voice sounded very different. It had lost the sneering, nasty quality, and Avern simply sounded like a young man in a lot of pain. The feral, maniac look had gone out of his eyes. His whole face had changed. It was gray and drawn. 

Avern took in Jaina's crouched form, Zekk, Kerros and the cave. A flash of realization passed through his eyes, and he grabbed Jaina's arm in a durasteel grip. "You are a Jedi, I know you are! Listen to me, please! You have to get out of here now! There is—" He stopped speaking abruptly, but his mouth still gaped. Then he slumped once again into unconsciousness. 

"I suggest we take his advice," said Zekk. He manhandled Kerros out of the cave, turning back at the entrance. "You two—over here!" Nevern and Havern glared resentfully, but they jumped up and came to Zekk without a word. 

"You sure have a way with children," said Jaina as she tried to hoist Avern's dead weight over one of her shoulders. 

"Just levitate him," Zekk called impatiently. 

Jaina used the Force to buoy Avern up into a horizontal position a meter off the floor. She gave a gentle mind nudge, and the boy drifted to the mouth of the cave. 

"You go get the warbeasts," she instructed Zekk once she reached him. "I'll keep an eye on Kerros and company." 

"Be right back," said Zekk. He took off at a run for the forest.

CHAPTER

5

****

It was daytime. Dengar was nervous. Once again he held out his ID pass for inspection at the embassy gate. 

One of Boba Fett's myriad, shadowy contacts had informed him that Leia Organa Solo had cloistered herself in her rooms for the entire morning. The barracks would be deserted, since the spring festival was only a few days away and all of Onderon seemed to be preparing for it. 

Dengar paced quickly through the empty halls to Solo's room, attracting no notice except that of a cleaning droid. When he reached the heavy door, he could hear muffled voices on the other side. Curses! She had company. 

He listened for a moment. Ah. It wasn't a person at all. Solo was dictating something into a vox recorder. Dengar took a deep breath and drew the stunner from his bag. Leia's voice droned on. Dengar hoped she wasn't on her guard, thinking she was safe inside the walls of the embassy. In a moment she would be wrong. 

Dengar knocked firmly on the door. He heard Leia's voice stop, and then footsteps. He flicked the safety off the stunner. 

The door swished upwards to reveal the Chief of State. The nanosecond she saw Dengar, Leia's hand dove for her belt. But with reflexes hone form years of constant use, Dengar snapped up the stunner and depressed the trigger. One bolt into her chest at close range. Leia slumped to the floor. Dengar doubted she even knew what hit her. 

****

Zekk was back with his and Jaina's warbeasts in fifteen standard minutes. Together, they lifted Avern onto the back of Jaina's mount and then gently pulled the staring, non-responsive Kerros to his feet and sat him in front of the wounded boy. 

Zekk, without preamble, grabbed Nevern and Havern under their arms in turn and swung them onto his beast. He mounted in front of them and kicked the animal into action. Jaina jumped onto hers and followed him. They lofted over the trees, and then turned the warbeasts back toward Old Iziz.

****

Dengar glanced quickly up and down the hall. He couldn't hear anyone. No one was around. He hefted the Chief of State over one of his shoulders and headed for his exit route, a back door of the barracks that avoided the main lobby and busy areas of the building. 

What Dengar didn't know, however, was that there was a side entrance to the barracks that he had to pass on his way out. 

Dengar heard a door opening and suddenly found himself face to face with a slim young man who had clipped black hair and green eyes. For an awful second Dengar thought it was Zekk. But no, he simply looked very much like the Jedi.

The man stopped short, eyes wide. "What are you _doing_?" he said finally, a frown on his face. 

"Um…she's sick," said Dengar brusquely. "Move aside. She needs medical help." He tried to sidestep the man, but the other was too fast. Corzak spread his arms to block Dengar's path. 

"That's the ambassador," he said. "What are you trying to—" 

Dengar punched him in the face with a huge fist. Corzak stumbled back and fell. Dengar took off down the hall at top speed, jouncing Leia on his shoulder. 

He heard the man yelling from behind him. "Help, somebody! He's kidnapping Leia Solo! Stop him!" Dengar heard pounding footsteps as he gave chase. 

Dengar poured on more speed. He was almost to the rear entrance. Other voices joined the man's as his alarm was heard. And then Dengar was smashing his fist into the door release. It slid upwards and Dengar bounded out into a service yard. 

A man in a military uniform with a prodigious number of medals on it was pulling into the yarn in a landspeeder. He saw Dengar come dashing out the door and heard the yelling New Republic guards behind him. One of his hands dropped to his waist for a weapon. But before he could, Dengar reached the speeder, grabbed the man by his beribboned collar and yanked him out. 

Delph gave a shout, and then was quiet as he smacked the permacrete face-first. Dengar jumped into the landspeeder, dumped 

Leia unceremoniously behind the driver's seat and gunned away from the embassy. 

"So much for a quiet exit," he muttered. He didn't dare key Boba Fett's comm code on the landspeeders transponder; undoubtedly all transmissions from the craft were monitored. Dengar opened the throttle wide and headed for the landing field. 

Apparently the complacent and disorganized New Republic troops hadn't sounded a general alarm, for no one tried to stop Dengar except a sentry droid that was directing traffic, and only because Dengar was going flat out a seventy kilometers an hour. 

He reached the landing field two minutes later. Putting the speeder into a hard turn, he drew up at the _Slave IV_. Dengar grabbed Leia, who was limp as a sack of Onderon grain, and pounded frantically on the ship's hull. 

The boarding ramp rolled down and Boba Fett appeared, blaster at the ready. He took in the New Republic landspeeder; Dengar's flushed face, and the inanimate Chief of State. 

"Dengar," he said, "you _idiot_."

"I couldn't help it, someone saw me!" 

"Get her inside fast," said Boba Fett in furious tones. Dengar ran up the ramp. Just inside, he let Leia slide off his shoulder. She clattered on the deckplates. Boba Fett took one of her arms, and the two bounty hunters dragged her into the cargo bay. Along one wall were a variety of specialized holding cells. Fett pointed to one that was made of reinforced durasteel with a triple-locked door. "That will do." 

Dengar dragged Leia inside and shut the door, which locked automatically. Boba Fett turned his perpetual glare on Dengar. 

"You were clumsy, Dengar."

"I accomplished my mission," said Dengar in his most irritating Imperial robot voice. He was not going to take this dung from Boba Fett. 

"Get out. I am lifting off," said the masked man. 

"Hey, you're welcome," said Dengar. He turned and stomped back down the ramp. 

Boba Fett calmly fire four shots at the landspeeder, targeting the fuel tanks and engine pods. They ruptured and the small craft burst into flames. 

Boba Fett had keyed for liftoff clearance before Dengar showed up, and the altered identity profile of his ship held. According to the profile, Boba Fett was here on business, purchasing a small grain-producing ranch in the southern hemisphere. 

He took the _Slave IV_ out of the atmosphere at an acceptable rate, giving no indication of his cargo. Boba Fett was in no danger. The New Republic was looking for a human man with a scarred face and a New Republic uniform—although they'd find out soon enough who Dengar was. Fett had the capability to produced an absolutely foolproof ID for Dengar, but the one he'd given him was anything but. It was purposeful, because it would cast even more suspicion on the other bounty hunter. 

As the navicomputer prepared for hyperspace, Boba Fett keyed Mr. Dark's encrypted comm channel. He waited patiently while the transmission went though its many relays. After a time Mr. Dark's flat voice came out of the speaker. 

"Fett. You-have-the-boun-ty?" 

"Yes."

"Pro-ceed-to-our-arr-anged-meet-ing-place," said Mr. Dark. "You-will-re-cieve-your-mon-ey-when-you-are-ve-ri-fied." 

"Very well," said Boba Fett. The meeting place was in the same sector as Flar, on a world Boba Fett had never heard of. The computer said it was a shipping planet. It was the only other world in the sector besides Flar and a few moons that was habitable. 

Boba Fett's calculations were ready, and he sent the _Slave IV_ into hyperspace. 

****

As Jaina and Zekk guided their warbeasts back to the city, Jaina's thoughts were swirling like a sandstorm on Tatooine. They'd found a Jedi Holocron—that was the most important thing. But tiny discrepancies still nagged her. The way Kerros and Avern had tried to warn her of something, the almost…mechanical way that Avern had fought her, and last but certainly not least, how contrived the whole episode seemed. 

Avern still had not regained consciousness. Kerros was stiffly holding the back of her saddle, not speaking. Jaina saw the stable below and tugged at her beast's reins to bring him—Jaina was fairly sure by now—down. 

The wrangler bounded out of the stable and collected the beasts, paying less attention to Avern, Nevern, Havern and Kerros than, as he called them, his 'little darlings'. 

It was a tight fit, but Jaina managed to load everyone into the landspeeder Delph had given her. 

"Don't let Avern leak on the upholstery," said Zekk. Jaina glared at him. 

"Zekk, this is not the time." 

"Hey, sorry," said Zekk. "It's just my way of dealing with stress." 

"Just get in, funny man," said Jaina sharply. She gunned the engine for all it was worth and headed back to the embassy. "We'll get Kerros and Avern medical help," she said, "and debrief the two kids. Mom's going to flip out." 

When Jaina and Zekk arrived at the embassy they were confronted with a scene of chaos. New Republic troops and civilian staffers were milling around the courtyard in confused clumps. Jaina managed to find a medic for Avern and Kerros, and handed the children off to a surprised New Republic sergeant. 

The barracks lobby was full of life forms, all yelling at the top of their lungs. Ambassador Tubb was standing in a three-deep circle of military personnel, waving his arms in frustration and trying with all his might to be heard above the din. Delph was shouting a competing statement at the military captain, who was trying to calm everyone down. Delph's face was badly bruised and there was blood trickling from his nose. 

Jaina was surprised to see that Corzak was also in the group. It was at him that most of the military personnel were directing their frenzy.

Jaina shoved her way through the knot of people to Ambassador Tubb. "What in the name of the Force is going on?" she shouted at him. 

"Oh, it's terrible, just terrible!" cried Ambassador Tubb. 

"What happened?" called Zekk, directing his question to Corzak. 

"Ambassador Solo!" said Corzak. That grabbed Jaina's attention. 

"Did something happen to Mom?" she cried. She stood in front of him, eyes filled with alarm. 

"Someone _took _her!" said Corzak. His face was almost as bruised and bloody as Delph's. 

"Who?" demanded Jaina, grabbing Corzak by the shoulders. _"Who?"_

"_I_ don't know," said Corzak helplessly. "He was big and rugged, and he had a New Republic uniform and a face that was all twisted. Not like an expression—like he'd had an accident and his skin had been grafted back together." 

Jaina turned to look at Zekk.

"Dengar," he said. "Dengar took your mother." 

Ambassador Tubb heard them and snapped his head around. "You know who this man was?" he said breathlessly. 

"Yeah," said Jaina. "His name is Dengar. He's bounty hunter. And he has a giant grudge against my family." 

"Oh, my!" said Ambassador Tubb. He turned to Delph. Before he could give the order Delph was already moving. 

"Yes sir, an all-galaxy bulletin on—what was his name?"

"Dengar!" said the ambassador, Jaina, Zekk and Corzak together. Delph nodded and began to rush off again. 

"Hey!" said Jaina. "Don't you need a description?" Delph turned uncertainly. Jaina sighed. 

"Male human, one and three-quarter standard meters tall, physically large, scars on face and neck," said Corzak at her elbow. "He was able to carry Ambassador Solo with just one arm." He rubbed his face. "Very strong and—" Before he was finished Jaina was already dashing for the turbolifts at the far end of the lobby. 

"Hey Jaina, where're you going?" yelled Zekk. 

"After Dengar!" she called over her shoulder. "Come on!" 

Jaina fidgeted impatiently as she waited for a tube, and then jumped inside and hit the button for the top floor. Zekk was at her heels as she ran down the hall to her suite. "Where you go, I follow, Your Worship," he said with a hint of sarcasm. 

Jaina grabbed her duffel off the floor of her bedroom and threw a spare flightsuit, jacket and her toiletries into it. She swept the security holocube into the bag last of all.

She met Zekk in the hall carrying his bath bag and nothing else. They took the tube back to the lobby. They ran across and were almost to the door when Corzak caught Jaina's arm. 

"Wait!" said the older boy. "Let me come with you." He gave her one of his deep, serious looks that she had seen the first night. 

"Fine by me," she said briefly, and was out the door. 

The borrowed landspeeder was where she'd left it. Jaina tossed her duffel into the back and started the engine. Zekk climbed in next to her and Corzak sat behind her. At that moment Ambassador Tubb and Delph burst out the door of the barracks. 

"Just a moment, young lady!" shouted Ambassador Tubb. "You can't simply run off like this!"

"Yes," called Delph. "Proper procedure must be taken!" Jaina turned in the driver's seat to face him.

"Corporal, you can stick proper procedure up your afterburner for all I care," she said coolly. Delph gaped at her. Jaina hit the accelerator and made a hard turn past the two and out the gate. 

Three minutes later Jaina was at the _Lonely Star_'s landing sight. She abandoned the speeder at the edged of the pad and ran onto her ship. In the cockpit she started the pre-flight checks and began to warm up the engines.

Jaina could still feel her mother through the Force. She was alive, but the sense was very weak. Dengar was far away from Onderon. Jaina keyed for clearance to lift off. 

"Consular ship _Lonely Star_, we acknowledge but deny your request," said the controller. Jaina had expected as much. She activated the repulsors and felt the ship lift.

"This is the _Lonely Star._ Too bad."

As the _Lonely Star _broke Onderon's atmosphere, Jaina cut her speed and opened herself to the Force. She searched across space and time, trying to connect with her mother. Leia was there, but dwindling rapidly away. She was being transported through hyperspace. 

Jaina couldn't hang around Onderon after her hurried exit from Old Iziz, but she pushed all thoughts of hurry and concern from her mind, sat back in the pilot's seat and concentrated. She imagined a ship carrying her mother away from Onderon. It broke the atmosphere, paused for navicomputer coordinates and then accelerated to lightspeed. As she ran the mental holovid, a string of coordinates suddenly flashed across Jaina's vision. Her eyes snapped open, and she quickly punched the digits into the navicomputer. Through her meditation, the thing she subconsciously desired—the jump coordinates of the bounty hunter's ship—had surfaced. At any other time Jaina would have been thrilled that an untried Force exercise had worked so well, but now she merely waited for the coordinates to be verified, and sent the _Lonely Star_ into hyperspace. The ship accelerated into the unknown. 

The moment they were in hyperspace, Jaina keyed a HoloNet transmission to Coruscant. Once she reached the Solo's apartment, she entered the family's personal code and waited for someone to answer. 

A tiny Jacen appeared in the transmission field. "Jaina!" he said in surprise. Then, noticing she was in the cockpit of the _Lonely Star_, "Have you left Onderon already or are you out on a joyride?" 

"Mom's been kidnapped," said Jaina grimly. Jacen's jaw literally dropped. 

"Who?" he finally choked out. 

"Dengar," said Jaina. "And that's not all." She related the saga of Avern and Kerros, and about Corzak. Jacen ran a hand through his curly brown hair. 

"Blaster bolts, Jaina, you go where the excitement is." 

"Listen," said Jaina. "I know where Dengar went; we're following him. You tell Dad and the others, okay?" 

Jacen nodded. "Yeah, right away. Dad's in a meeting with the Trade Council, but I think I can tear him away for this."

"Do that," said Jaina. She prepared to cut the transmission. 

"Good hunting," said Jacen. Jaina smiled lopsidedly. 

"May the Force be with you, Jacen." She terminated the connection. 

Jaina puttered around the cockpit for a few moments and then went back to the passenger lounge. Zekk was sitting on the acceleration couch. Corzak was nowhere to be seen. 

Zekk jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Corzak went to get some sleep." 

Jaina found her duffel in a corner of the lounge and took out to holocube from the embassy. She activated the _Lonely Star_'s entertainment module and its subsystem—and top-notch holodecoder. Holodecoders could enhance and clarify blurry or dark holo recordings and expose forgeries. Some of the more sophisticated ones could also decrypt secure holocubes. By inputting the recording's binary data and then manipulating it, Jaina hoped she could expose the embassy vandals. 

Zekk stood, reached into his pocket, and pulled out the Jedi Holocron. In all the excitement Jaina had almost forgotten about the precious artifact. "Where do you want me to put it?" said Zekk.

Jaina smiled. "Keep it with you. I can't think of a safer place." Zekk nodded and put the Holocron away. Jaina would have to study it after she finished programming the holodecoder. 

She inserted the holocube into the player slot and the same fuzzy image played out. Jaina stopped the holo at twelve thirty. She typed AUGMENT AND ENHANCE into the keypad. HUMAN VISIBLE SPECTRUM—BIT MAP. There was a beep as the holodecoder registered the information. VERIFY COMMAND flashed at her. Jaina hit the CONFIRM key. An estimated time blinked in the holo field. Jaina sighed. The decoding would take hours. All she could do was let it work. 

Zekk touched her arm. "I'm going to get some sleep while I can," he said. Jaina looked despondently at the deck. She hated waiting, hated knowing her mother was in danger and she could not help her. And Jaina felt, in some way, that it was her fault Dengar had kidnapped Leia. She knew on a logical level this was foolish, but the frustration and worry had her close to tears. 

Zekk set the Holocron on the table in front of her. "Why don't you work on this?" he suggested. "It might help." He went into the sleep compartment and shut the door. 

****

Boba Fett brought the _Slave IV_ out of hyperspace a good distance away from the disreputable planet of Kah'miran. It had been a simple task to find out which world Mr. Dark had sent him to, but the information was not encouraging. 

Through his research, Boba Fett knew that the exceptional long-range sensors in the one large city of Lask would already have detected the _Slave IV_. 

Kah'miran, Boba Fett had found, was loosely classified as a shipping world. Low-class bounty hunters, smugglers, thieves, con men and card cheats from many sectors around congregated there, in the teeming canyon city of Lask. If you were dishonest and second-string, Kah'miran was the place to go.

Lask was one of the few metropolises on an oxygen-breathing world that actually required a breathing mask. Kah'miran had an exceptionally high water table, and consequently no underground waste-disposal system. The smell alone was enough to drive some humanstock species away, but the worst problem was the gas mine. Kah'miran had no factories and no industry. It _did_ have a huge automated mine that brought up a unique type of natural gas—not enough to supply the surrounding sectors, but enough to fuel the entire city. Boba Fett wasn't sure that anyone would _want_ to buy the fossil fuel, because it gave off a black, oily, noxious smoke that clung to hair, clothes, buildings and air molecules. It blanketed Lask with a blue-black haze, making it seem overcast even when Kah'miran's sun was shining. 

Lask had no shield generators, no planetary defense systems. Instead, on the rim of Der'bak Canyon were a battery of turbolasers. Anyone who wasn't wanted would be atmospheric debris in seconds. Gunners in the employ of the local crime boss manned the turbolasers around the chrono. Lask supposedly had a New Republic governor, but the man's last report had been filed years ago, and with some digging Fett had found his death slip. 

But the city did have laws, and strict security. Boba Fett knew they would be recognizing the _Slave IV_'s ID profile. Finally, wordlessly, a string of landing coordinates flashed on the navigation screen. Fett guided his ship down to one of the many hangar bays that studded the side of Der'bak Canyon. 

Leia Organa Solo was still not awake. Dengar had knocked her out but good. The sedative gas that Boba Fett had released into her cell augmented the effect. Fett had agreed to give Dengar a quarter of the bounty, if the foolish man didn't get captured before Fett collected on Solo. 

Boba Fett exited his ship, ignoring the skinny Chadra Fan who ran the docking bay. He'd find a bill when he returned, and he'd do well to pay it. 

The sides of Der'bak Canyon were crisscrossed with moving conveyor belts going up to the grassy savannas and down to the city. Boba Fett stepped onto a city-bound belt, keeping his blaster rifle strapped to his back. You could wave you weapon around all you wanted in Lask, but if you waved it at the wrong person that was to bad for you. 

He reached the floor of the canyon a few minutes later. The population of Lask wore breath masks, kerchiefs, respirators, or simply covered their breathing orifices with their respective appendages as they hurried along the street towards the climate-controlled buildings. To the north Fett could see the mine rig burning off excess fuel, spewing pollution into the atmosphere. 

The homes and businesses of Lask were cast from a single mold of large domed room and a smaller block next to it; arranged in various combinations and sizes. Most of the structures were made of form-cast dirt on frames. Cheap and ugly. 

Boba Fett walked quickly away from the gas mine, towards the center of the city, which housed third-rate cantinas, fifth rate casinos, and a few abominable hotels. 
    
    Fett ignored a dancer with her breath mask hose looped artfully over her shoulders outside a casino/dance hall, and a juggler outside another. He headed straight for a dome-shaped cantina with neon glowrods running down the sides, flashing in a psychedelic pattern of red, orange, green, pink and blue. All the points of the building—door, windows, even the small vet in the roof were outlined in shocking orange neon. A modified navigational beacon at the peak of the dome flashed a red strobe around and around. The cantina was called the Escape Pod. Boba Fett paid no attention to the glowrod display as he opened the door and moved into an atmosphere that, while dank, was at least clean and non-toxic. 

The Escape Pod had one level, and the high ceiling was shadowy at the top. Various arrangements of glowglobes and rods dangled from points around the dome, casting unpredictable pools of light. A larger glowglobe hung over the bar, illuminating the stools and sabacc tables. 

Boba Fett sat in the third booth from the door. He thought he was alone for a moment, but then the infrared sensors in his helmet detected another life form sitting across from him. The being was half the size of the average human, but Fett realized after a moment that the man was. He was colored entirely in neutrals and drabs—dirt-colored hair, sand-colored skin, and filthy clothes that were either made out of old military recon tents or simply green with mold. 

The man spoke, in a raspy, unpleasant voice. "Fett." He flicked his eyes quickly left and right, a habit fugitives and low-grade smugglers sometimes acquired. "Can't talk!" he rasped. He shoved a piece of flimsiplast into Boba Fett's hand, jumped up and scuttled out of the Escape Pod. 

Boba Fett looked at the flimsiplast. A hangar bay number and a time were scribbled on it. To Fett's annoyance, the time was early the next morning. He would have to spend the night on Kah'miran. Boba Fett didn't like waiting. He was growing more irritated with Mr. Dark by the hour. 

****

Jaina sat on the acceleration couch, puzzling over the Jedi Holocron. She wondered if she should activate it. _Activate it—how?_

Jaina understood the fundamentals of how a Holocron worked. She knew only a Jedi could access one, and that when studying it, it seemed as if the Knight was actually inside the Holocron. 

This had been Master Arca's Holocron. The dark orange crystal square had Old Republic designs carved in it. It was beautiful. 

The decoder was still working on the holocube. It would take hours yet to acquire a clear picture. Jaina reached for the Holocron, to examine it for some kind of switch or button. As her fingers touched it, the Holocron glowed with an inner light. A hum permeated the air. 

The next moment the passenger lounge of the _Lonely Star _had vanished and Jaina was looking at a tall humanoid man with pebbly greenish skin, a fierce but noble face, and white hair that flowed past his shoulders. The apparition smiled. "Greetings, Jedi," he said in a deep, gravelly voice. 

Jaina knew her mouth was gaping, and closed it. "Who are you?" she asked, feeling foolish. 

"I am Master Arca Jeth," said the alien. "And _you _are a powerful Jedi." 

Jaina had heard from Tionne, one of the instructors at the Jedi academy, that studying a Holocron was intense, but she'd never expected anything like this. 

"I know why you are here," said Master Arca. Jaina raised her eyebrows.

"You do?" Master Arca nodded. 

"Through the Force, I can see many things. You are here because someone very close to you is missing. But that is not all."

"My mother was kidnapped by a bounty hunter," said Jaina. She wasn't about to tell Arca about Zekk. Feeling she should introduce herself, she added, "I'm Jaina Solo." 

"I know who you are, little Jedi," said Master Arca. "Though perhaps you are not so little anymore." Jaina felt herself blushing slightly. 

"Well, I've only been training at Uncle Luke's academy for two years, and then Aunt Mara agreed to be my Master, but—"

"You have had many adventures and challenges," said Arca. His black eyes focused intently on Jaina, and she knew she was being looked over on the inside as well. 

Arca said, "For you I have advice. And a warning." Jaina waited wordlessly. "You are a powerful Jedi," reiterated Master Arca. "You are spirited and confident. These traits are admirable, but they may get you into grave trouble."

"My parents say the same thing," said Jaina. Arca pointed his finger at her, robes rippling. 

"You will meet a trio with dark heads," he said. "One of them is true. One of them is false. And one of them can harm you." 

"What does _that_ mean?" said Jaina in total confusion. Arca continued as if she had not spoken. 

"On the world with many wounds the dark heads will meet a shadow. You, and you alone can defeat it. But if you take the quick and easy path the dark heads will win and lose. Beware." 

As Jaina stared mutely at him, Arca gave her a stern look. "You have come a long way, little Jedi. But the journey has just begun." The Jedi Master gave her a fleeting smile as he disappeared. 

With a start, Jaina found herself back in the passenger lounge, with Zekk bending over her. "Who were you talking to?" 

"Er, would you believe Jedi Master Arca?" said Jaina. Zekk looked at her, then at the Holocron, which inexplicably had drawn closer. 

"You used it," he said. Jaina nodded. "What was it like?" asked Zekk eagerly. 

"I can't describe it," said Jaina slowly. She looked at her friend. "I was _with_ the Force, Zekk, more than when I'm flying or fighting, more than I've ever been. It was incredible." 

Corzak came to the door of the sleep compartment. "Is that the navicomputer beeping?" he asked, pointing to the cockpit. 

Jaina snapped out of her reverie, jumped up and ran forward. The navicomputer was preparing for reversion to normal space. Which meant she'd been in the Holocron a lot longer than she' thought. Interesting. 

The navicomputer beeped down to zero, and Jaina brought the _Lonely Star_ out of hyperspace. A ripple in the Force told her to kill all thrust and hang in the blackness. Just in visual range, she could see a tiny yellow speck. The binary sun of a far-flung system. 

Zekk and Corzak came to look out the canopy. Zekk frowned. "Something tells me we shouldn't get to close," he said. 

"Well, let's find out where in blazes we are before we make any snap decisions," said Jaina. She accessed the _Lonely Star_'s databank and asked it where they were. The computer's vox chip spoke.

"System: Mak'ra. Planets: one. Name: Kah'miran. Atmosphere: oxygen, breathable for most carbon-based life forms. Terrain: Savanna and canyon. Population centers: one. Name: Lask. Technology level: six. Defense, offense and weapons systems: none. At least none that the computer knew about. There _were_ weapons down there, Jaina was sure. "Human and humanoid species are not recommended to breathe atmosphere without respiratory apparatus. City of Lask located in northern hemisphere, vector three-niner-five," said the computer. 

Jaina shared Zekk's sentiment about staying away from Kah'miran, but decided she didn't have a choice. She cut in the engines again and headed for the planet a moderate speed. As Kah'miran grew larger in the canopy, Jaina broadcast her ID profile to the Lask controllers. She got no response. But that didn't mean no one was monitoring her. Kah'miran level of technology made it a shipping world, and this far out on the Rim shipping was spelled S-M-U-G-G-L-I-N-G. 

When Jaina was almost into the upper atmosphere, a gruff voice finally came over the comm. "_Lonely Star_, turn around. This is your one and only chance." Jaina's response was to open the throttle another notch. 

As the ship was entering the middle atmosphere, a blast of high-powered turbolaser fire suddenly skimmed by the cockpit. The shots were far off the mark, but Jaina immediately cut in the braking thrusters, turning around. Not fast enough. 

"Alright, _Lonely Star_, we warned ya," said the comm voice. 

The turbolasers spoke in earnest. What seemed to be a solid wall of green fire sailed towards the ship. Jaina raised the shields with one hand and threw the _Star _into a high evasive tun with the other. She pushed the thrusters to full power and screamed for space. Zekk hung onto the cockpit door for dear life, and Corzak, who hadn't reacted fast enough, lay sprawled on the deck. 

"Sorry!" Jaina yelled as she raced away from Kah'miran. She kept going on full power until the planet was out of visual range. 

Zekk shook his head, a bit dazedly. "They don't fool around, that's for sure." 

"But it's exactly the sort of place Dengar would run to," said Jaina, elated. "We need to formulate a new strategy." She put the _Lonely Star_ into hover mode, sat back in the pilot's seat and bit her lip, fingers straying over the controls. The _Star_ had plenty of firepower, but two quad guns, a blaster cannon, and some concussion missiles were not going to do _any_ good against what Jaina estimated were sixty turbolaser emplacements. Nor could the ship's shields survive the assault to make planetfall. Jaina sighed. There was nothing… Her eyes lit on the escape pod firing toggle. 

Jaina jumped out of her chair and nearly bowled Zekk and Corzak over as she raced for the cargo bay. "Zekk, help me!" she called as she pulled a toolkit from the storage compartment. "I just got an idea!"

Zekk followed her retreating footsteps back to the escaped pod hatches.

Jaina lifted the hatch, and then crawled forward to the pod's control panel. Using her multitool, she began to remove the transponder that sent out her ship's ID profile. 

Zekk stuck his head through the hatch, saw the gleam in Jaina's eye and the parts she was pulling out of the control panel, and shook his head emphatically. "No way, Jaina!" 

"Oh, don't be a sissy," said Jaina as she worked the ID transponder lose from the distress beacon. 

"Jetting down to Kah'miran is not my idea of courage!" said Zekk. "It's more like suicide."

"These things are perfectly safe, I checked them out myself," said Jaina. "And it won't be a bad fit if we squish a little."

"_Three_ of us?" said Zekk with raised eyebrows. 

"Of course not," said Jaina. "Corzak can stay here and mind the ship." It was better than saying she didn't fully trust Zekk's brother. "We'll find Dengar, get Mom—"

"And how do we come back?" interrupted Zekk. Jaina fit the distress beacon, sans transponder, back into the control panel. 

"We'll cross that hoverbridge when we come to it," she said. "Maybe if we tell the people who control the turbolasers why we're there, they'll let us bring the _Star_ in for a landing."

"Yeah, and I can teach a gundark to do the Gammorean two-step," said Zekk. "Jaina, I know people like that. Those guys are _not_ going to let an unknown ship land just because some little Jedi girl says pretty please." Jaina gave him her most scathing glare. She was completely fed up with people telling her she didn't know anything. 

"We're going to try, Zekk," she said icily. Zekk heard the durasteel in her tone and sighed. 

"I knew being a Jedi involved risks," he said. "I just didn't know how many." Jaina punched him on the arm.

"Oh, come on, where's you sense of adventure?" 

"I think I left it on Mechis III," said Zekk, "or maybe it was Ryloth."

"Ha ha," said Jaina sarcastically. "Let's get ready for this." 

As Jaina collected her tools and lightsaber, she realized that its very appearance would cause instant suspicion. She jogged back to the sleep compartment and got a battered tool bag, dumped out the spare tools and tossed in her multitool, a comlink, and her lightsaber. She rooted around the ship and came up with a torn and greasy spare pair of tech coveralls that replaced her clean flightsuit. Jaina tied back her short hair with an odd piece of string to complete her disguise. 

When she checked herself out in the 'fresher mirror, she was surprised how much the clothes and hairstyle changed her. She'd gone from a fairly respectable-looking sixteen-year-old to a shifty, disreputable smuggler's tech somewhere in her mid-twenties. Jaina removed her expensive chrono from her wrist and put it into her pocket and tucked the legs of the coveralls into the top of her boots. But the outfit still needed something…

Corzak appeared at her shoulder with a blaster in holster. _Of course._ Jaina buckled the weapon on. Even though her training was with a lightsaber, Han Solo had taught her how to use a blaster accurately and quickly. Jaina affected her best imitation of the outlaw swagger that she'd seen on so many criminals, and was satisfied she'd pass on Kah'miran. 

Zekk didn't need to alter his appearance at all. His black pants, shirt and vest, and his scuffed boots were the perfect outfit for a smuggler. Zekk adopted the cool, professional façade he'd learned as a bounty hunter. Jaina was amazed how much a simple change in posture and attitude altered his personality. Zekk's body language shifted, and a cold, calculating look came into his eyes. 

Jaina added Zekk's lightsaber to her tool bag. Zekk had a double-blaster waist holster, like the one he'd used before he built his Jedi weapon. He checked the charge on both of the guns, then slid them into holster. 

Jaina admonished Corzak to take good care of the _Lonely Star_, then she and Zekk ducked into the escape pod. "Now remember," said Jaina as she hit the fire controls. "You're a smuggler looking to hire a bounty hunter to settle a grudge. But don't say we're looking for Dengar specifically, because then they'll—"

Zekk touched her arm. "Jaina, I wasn't a bounty hunter for long, but I think I know how to make a discreet inquiry with these people."

Jaina gave him a lopsided smile. "Okay. And I'm your tech assistant. We'll call ourselves…Zircon and Jeck." 

Zekk bit back a smile. "Sounds good." 

****

CHAPTER

6

****

The moment Kah'miran came into visual range, Jaina activated the distress beacon. The escape pod rocketed through space. 

There was turbulence as the gravity well of Kah'miran gripped the tiny craft. Jaina looked out of the tiny viewport. "We just entered the atmosphere." 

The navigation system beeped as it detected multiple landing beacons. None of them were for the _Lonely Star_'s escape pod.

The Kah'miran controllers still retained comm silence, but they weren't shooting either. Jaina noted the location of the beacons, a deep canyon that ran along the northern hemisphere, and deliberately fired the steering thrusters to drop the pod slightly to the west. 

"What are you doing?" Zekk frowned.

"I don't want a welcoming committee," said Jaina. Kah'miran's terrain was discernible now, the rippling brown grass of a savanna. Jaina steered for a flat place in the landscape. "Braking thrusters," she instructed Zekk in a terse voice. He activated them and the escape pod slowed, but still touched down with a bone-jarring thump. 

Jaina popped the hatch and climbed out. The grass was smooth and about waist height. Jaina shouldered her tool bag, remembering to collect two breathing masks from the escape pods supplies, and pointed to the west. A dark fissure ran along the canyon, and seemed to be giving off a cloud of pollution. 

Jaina and Zekk began to walk the kilometer to the lip of then canyon. As they neared, the air became progressively more foul. Jaina's lungs burned with the effort of getting enough oxygen to maintain the brisk pace. She slipped on her breathing mask, and Zekk did the same. To the north Jaina could see flames leaping and smoke belching. A natural gas mine burning off excess. 

Jaina and Zekk neared the lip of the canyon. Gray snouts pointed towards the sky, rotating slowly as the turbolaser gunners scanned the surrounding space. Jaina saw two figures standing hostilely by the emplacement she and Zekk were approaching. On was a teenage boy who couldn't have been a day older than Jaina, and the other was a sneaky-looking Devaronian. 

Jaina nudged Zekk. "Remember—think smuggler." 

Zekk waved an arm in a non-threatening greeting. The boy uncrossed his arms and put his hands on his hips, one on a small blaster. Jaina and Zekk stopped a few meters away from the pair, forcing the boy to come forward. "Who're you?" he demanded. 

Zekk crossed his arms over his chest in a perfect imitation of the boy. "My name's Zircon." He jerked a thumb a Jaina. "This is Jeck." Zekk had adopted a cocky, insolent tone, and, Jaina noted with amusement, sounded a lot like her father. "Our ship had a reactor overload. You probably saw our escape pod back there." The boy nodded warily.

"So waddaya want?" 

Zekk countered defensively. "Free planet, isn't it? We just wanna go down to the city, not that it's any of your business." The boy took another step towards Zekk.

"No one gets into Lask without permission." Zekk, who outweighed the boy by twenty pounds and was three centimeters taller, raised his eyebrows. 

"From who? _You?_ Don't make me laugh." The boy gave Zekk a nasty look.

"No, wise guy, from Lord Garg. He runs the city. Dontcha know that?" Zekk gave him an equally nasty smile. 

"Sorry, I forgot to read up on the local history." He cocked his head. "This Lord Garg must be getting pretty desperate if he's employing the likes of you." Jaina noticed that the Devaronian had retreated to the turbolaser emplacement. He was now capable, with one flick of a switch, of blowing them both away. 

The boy and Zekk had gotten into a staring contest, which Zekk easily won. "So, kid. You gonna let us in or not?" The boy shrugged.

"It's up to Lord Garg."

"Well, where can I speak to Lord Garg?" 

"You don't speak to Lord Garg," said the boy. "_He_ speaks to _you_." 

"Then I'll look forward to hearing him," said Zekk, and simply walked around the boy, neatly removing himself from the sights of the turbolaser. "Come on, Jeck!" he called over his shoulder. "Let's haul jets down there—the sooner we can get off this giant grass mat the better." The boy came running after them. 

"Hey, you can't just go down like that!" Jaina and Zekk completely ignored him. The boy sprinted ahead of them and stretched out his arms. "Lord Garg won't let you!" he said, sounding like an earnest toddler. "He gets real mad when unauthorized persons come in. I'd _never_ let you in!" 

Zekk smiled benevolently. "Really." He reached into his vest and pulled out a credit chip worth two hundred fifty credits. "Are you so sure?" Zekk waved the chip tantalizingly under the boy's nose. The boy's eyes followed the chip back and forth. Finally he snatched the chit from Zekk. 

"It's your funeral." He pointed to the north. "You can get a belt into Lask up there." Zekk tossed him a two-fingered salute. 

"Thanks, kid. Keep doing your job just like this, y'hear?" He walked away too quickly to hear the boy's outraged retort. 

Jaina jogged to catch up with Zekk. She had to bite her bottom lip hard to keep from bursting out laughing. Zekk looked over at her. "How was that?"

Jaina grinned. "You deserve an acting award." Zekk grinned back.

"I was pretty good at that, wasn't I?"

****

It was nearing time for Boba Fett to meet Mr. Dark's courier. He caught a conveyor belt that took him up the right-hand wall of the canyon to hangar bay 825. A man with Mr. Dark's bodyguard uniform of sunshade and bandanna stood with arms crossed, leaning casually against the door. He nodded at Boba Fett and hit the door release. "The ship's inside. Bring the bounty." 

If the man could have seen Boba Fett's gaze, he would have withered under the glare Fett was bestowing on him. "If you wanted me to bring the bounty now," said Boba Fett icily, "you should have informed me of that fact before I walked all the way over here." The man crossed his arms again, oblivious to the bounty hunter's anger. 

"You're getting paid, Fett. That's all you need to be concerned about. Now bring the bounty or you _won't _get paid a decicred." 

Boba Fett was tempted to blast the man there and then, leave Organa Solo on Kah'miran, and take off for parts unknown. He'd had thoroughly enough of Mr. Dark—his elaborate contacts and security, and his insolent manner towards Boba Fett. But it was, Fett reminded himself, a job. A job that paid a lot of money and even more personal satisfaction. Fett gritted his teeth and stomped back towards the conveyor belt, back to the _Slave IV_ and Leia Organa Solo. It would take him the better part of an hour to locate a suitable way to transport the Chief of State without anyone noticing—not that many people would care if they saw him carting Solo through the streets. She wasn't heavy, but Boba Fett was not a pack nerf. A regular repulsor handtruck was too small—he'd have to find an outsized one, which meant locating a dealership and haggling. _Two _hours. Boba Fett sighed inside his helmet. This wasn't the most difficult job he'd ever done, but it was certainly the most frustrating. 

****

Jaina and Zekk were glad they had breathing masks once they reached the city. A long, slow ride on the conveyor belts had finally brought them to the floor of Der'bak Canyon. 

A few life forms hurried along the side street the two Jedi had come to, but for a city of Lask's size it was remarkably quiet. Jaina could smell the tangy, contaminated air even through her mask. The sooner they could get a bead on Dengar and get out of here, the better. Jaina stopped for a moment to get her bearings, reaching out with the Force to try to feel Leia's presence. Yes, she was here, but her aura was still extremely weak. Jaina _knew_ her mother was somewhere in Lask. She quieted her breathing and tried to _adjust_ the focus of the Force on Leia's mind, like making a grainy holo clear. The location, she needed the exact location… Like she had turned a focus knob, a blue tendril of energy appeared, leading away from Jaina to the center of Lask. It wound through the streets like a beacon, giving her the guidance she needed. As Jaina committed the route to memory she suddenly cried out. Something had invaded her concentration, a terrible vision filling her field of view. The twisted, snarling face of a woman with flying black hair and eyes that blazed like turbolasers. Lightning arched and snapped around her, but it was the _thing_ behind the woman that made Jaina's blood turn to carbonite. A looming, blue-black shadow that was so filled with the dark side it took Jaina's breath away. 

Jaina screamed, and felt Zekk catch hold of her. The apparition vanished, and Jaina shakily opened her eyes. Zekk steadied her on her feet with concern, and—perhaps it was just Jaina's imagination—a little tenderness. "Are you all _right?_" he said. 

Jaina tugged her ponytail with alarm. "Mom's here and I know where to find her," she said. "But, Zekk, I had a vision."

"Of what?" said Zekk, knowing it couldn't be anything good.

"A Jedi," said Jaina. "She's using the dark side. And she's close." 

Zekk frowned. "I don't feel anything." Jaina worried the tool bag strap between her fingers. 

"It was like she could feel me probing for Mom. She could sense one light trainee over hundreds of thousands of miles. Zekk, that vision was a warning, I'm sure of it." Zekk looked very worried.

"Then I suggest we find Leia and get out of this sector before something happens. We can tell Master Skywalker about the dark Jedi." Jaina nodded her whole-hearted agreement.

"The sooner the better. Come on, let's go get Mom."

Jaina led Zekk through the zigzag maze of Lask's streets like a native. Presently they came to a small center square. The layout of the city was not unlike that of Mos Eisley on Tatooine. Large cantinas and a few shady businesses were clustered around the square. Jaina knew immediately where to go. The largest dome. The building had an eye-dazzling glowrod display on it and a navigational strobe revolving on the roof. "There." Jaina pointed.

"If you ask me," said Zekk with a sniff, "it's a bit overdone." Jaina smiled in spite of herself. 

The two crossed the square quickly to the cantina, which was called the Escape Pod. _People around here look like they could use an escape_, Jaina reflected as she pushed open the door. 

Sabacc tables and a busy bar were illuminated with bright light, while murky booths circled the perimeter of the one-story structure. Jaina and Zekk paused for a moment in the doorway, taking in the patrons of the Escape Pod—and letting the patrons size them up in turn. 

Zekk indicated the bar. "That's a good place to do our preliminary inquiries," he said. Jaina nodded, and they wound their way through the card tables to the bar. Zekk ordered an ale. Jaina wasn't thirsty. As Zekk drank, she cast a surreptitious eye at the clientele, none of whom would inspire trust or confidence. Zekk had engaged the bartender in a bogus conversation about how someone had jumped his shipment in orbit and causes a reactor overload, and how he was looking to take revenge. The bartender was listening unsympathetically. He shrugged when Zekk asked if anyone in the…business had been in here. "How should I know?" said the bartender. "Besides, I don't think any _good_ bounty hunters have _ever_ landed on Kah'miran." 

Jaina sensed someone behind them and turned to look. A man with a curly blond beard and long, curly hair was standing half a meter away. He had on a tan flightsuit and a large weapon strapped to his waist. "Maybe I can help," he said graciously. "I know a bit about the goings-on in this part of space." His voice had a smooth, oily quality, and while his body was muscular he moved sinuously. He reminded Jaina of an unpleasant reptile. 

The bartender, without being asked, drew a drink from a tap on the backbar and handed it to the man. A cantina regular. He, if anyone, would know weather Dengar had been to the Escape Pod and where he had gone. Zekk had also turned on his stool to face the man, holding his drink in the same casual manner. "Maybe you can help me." The man's thin red lips pulled back in an almost-smile to show his teeth. 

"Oh, you don't get information from Duk that easily." Zekk leaned his elbows on the bar. 

"Well, how hard is it?" he inquired. 

"Not _too_ hard," said the man smoothly. "I'm a gambler as well as a businessman." Zekk sat up on his stool.

"Oh?"

"Yeah," said Duk, laying much emphasis on the word. He indicated a sabacc table where two other men, one human, one a humanoid Firrerreon, were watching the exchange. Jaina realized they'd fallen into the grip of a card shark. "I normally charge for information," said Duk, "but maybe if you play cards as well as you posture you won't have to pay." Zekk's expression didn't change.

"Why not," he said, sliding off his stool. Jaina bit her thumbnail anxiously. She and Zekk had a limited amount of money, and Jaina was sure Duk had the game rigged. Jaina flashed Zekk a message: _I have a bad feeling about this_. Zekk's aura was completely unconcerned—any way Duk could cheat, Zekk could do it better. Jaina sighed and swiveled her stool so she could watch the game. 

Zekk sat down at the table and one of Duk's companions dealt the cards. They played a few hands, Duk and Zekk each winning one. Then, 'just to make it entertaining', she heard Duk say, they began to bet money as well as information. Not fazed, Zekk put in fifty credits. Jaina felt him stretch out with the Force to see the other player's cards. The group played a few more hands, which Zekk won. Then Duk won when the randomizer shifted the cards and Zekk lost his concentration. He quickly recovered and won the next hand. By this time the sabacc pot was getting large, and Zekk's personal winnings were larger than any of the others. Duk's companions were sending him poisonous looks over their cards. "One more hand," said Duk, and laid a thousand credits on the table. The others pushed all their chips into the sabacc pot. Jaina was distressed. Zekk _had_ to win to get the information they needed, but there were over ten thousand credits in the pot, and one hand of each of Duk's companions had disappeared under the table. She felt Zekk reach out with the Force. Duk's companions laid down their cards, neither of them had terribly good hands. Grinning for real, Duk laid down a pure sabacc of twenty-one. Zekk put down his three remaining cards one by one…the five of Flasks, the nine of Staves, and the Idiot card. 

"Twenty-three. I win," he said cheerfully. Duk leapt up, scattering credit chits over the table.

"No one wins that much, space scum," he growled. Zekk was also on his feet. Duk's heavy blaster was in his hand. Zekk drew his in a faster-than-the-eye-could-see motion. Duk's companions were slower in getting out their weapons, and, seeing that Zekk was about to start firing, Duk yelled something that sounded like "Hah!" Instantly, five other patrons jumped up from adjoining tables and leveled their weapons at Zekk. Jaina was the only one that could save him, and she reacted admirably. Jumping off her barstool, she yanked out her blaster in a draw that was less smooth than Zekk's but still quick, and faster then anyone could react had lain the muzzle of the gun against Duk's head. Duk stiffened. 

"Sore losers, are we?" inquired Jaina. The reinforcements had drawn back, unsure of what to do. 

Duk, still defiant, muttered, "He's a cheater." 

"And I say, cheater or not he still won," said Jaina coldly. She glared at Duk's cronies. "You're all cordially invited to lay your weapons on the table." They complied. "Now," said Jaina, removing her blaster from Duk's head when she no longer sensed a threat, "I believe there's a question of our winnings?" Duk, sullen and not nearly so tough, pushed the pile of credits towards Zekk.

"You can have it all," he muttered, eyes downcast. Jaina sighed. 

"Give him back his money, Zekk." Zekk carefully sorted the credits into four piles and handed them back. Duk watched the process, confusion on his face. Slowly, so she wouldn't get the wrong idea, he turned to face Jaina. 

"Who are you?" he asked. 

"Someone who expects a debt to be paid," said Jaina coolly. "You still owe us the information." Duk stared at her. 

"I don't get it. You leave all the money, but you still want to hear some rumor?" He shook his head.

"Just tell us," said Jaina, raising her blaster again. 

"Alright, fine," said Duk. "Boba Fett was in here yesterday. He sat in that booth over there a left after about five minutes. He was meeting with one of the local contacts." 

"For who?" said Jaina. 

"He's a contact," said Duk as if that explained it. "He doesn't work for anyone, just whoever pays him the most. He meets people here all the time, guiding them to their next checkpoint or paying them off. That's all I know." 

Jaina was more than a little puzzled. Dengar had to have come here. Her Force sense couldn't have been wrong. Boba Fett _could _have been working with Dengar…but that was against Bounty Hunter's Creed. Or maybe her Force sense was exactly right, and for some reason Boba Fett had gotten custody of her mother. In that case, someone had to have hired him. A person who would hire two of the most notorious bounty hunters in the galaxy would be very rich, and very powerful. Very powerful indeed. 

Jaina tucked her blaster back into its holster and nodded to Zekk, who had been standing quietly by. They turned to leave the cantina but before they could move the door burst open and five large humans and aliens armed to the teeth rushed in and arranged themselves in a fan, blocking the exit. Following them was an exceptionally short man with no hair and an enormous paunch. He called to the bartender in a wheezy voice. "Is this them?" at the same time pointing a plump finger at Jaina and Zekk. 

"Yeah, Lord Garg," said the bartender. He was holding a comlink in his hand and smirking at Jaina. "They were getting tough with Duk and the regulars." Lord Garg rubbed his chin and advanced towards Zekk.

"Who are you? What are you doing on _my_ planet?" 

"I don't know the last time you checked a holodirectory," said Zekk, "but this is the New Republic's planet." In response Lord Garg reached up and smacked Zekk across the face. Zekk, unfazed, touched his cheek where the crime lord had hit him and then called to Jaina, "Come on, Jeck. No point in hanging around with scum lower than us." Lord Garg turned red with rage. He snapped his fingers and the members of his goon squad bounded forward and cocked their blaster rifles at Zekk's head. 

"Let's go," said Lord Garg. He turned and marched out of the Escape Pod. One of his guards pointed his rifle at Jaina and motioned for her to move. As Jaina moved to comply with the guard her left hand was reaching down to unzip the tool bag at her waist. Surreptitiously she put her hand inside. Zekk was being shoved towards the door by three of the other thugs, while one had gone ahead. The hum of conversation in the cantina, which had lowered considerably when Lord Garg had busted in, stopped altogether as the patrons watched the drama play out. Jaina drew abreast of the guard who was holding his rifle on her. With a quick jerk of the Force she yanked it out of his hand, at the same time closing her fingers around her lightsaber. She whipped it out of the bag, ignited it, and thrust her boot into the gunless guard's stomach. He fell back and banged the wall of the Escape Pod. Jaina pulled the tool bag strap so it hung securely over her chest, and raised her saber. The other guards all turned to look at her. Which was a big mistake. Zekk, who had been marching inside their square, slammed the two behind him in the face with a double backhanded punch, and then drew his blasters.

Lord Garg had gotten a few paces outside the cantina door, now he hurried back, just in time to see Jaina calmly deflecting blaster bolts from one of the guard's rifles, while Zekk set his blasters to stun and felled the two goons he'd slugged. The remaining guards aimed at Jaina, but she sent her lightsaber spinning in a quick arc across the open space of the cantina, lopped off the barrels of both weapons, and caught her saber on the return. Zekk nodded his admiration. "Nice moves."

The guards looked at Jaina with wide eyes, dropped their useless guns and turned tail, almost running over their employer. "Where are you going!" shouted Lord Garg indignantly. "Come back and fight, you gutless sons of underweight Hutts!" He pulled a comlink off his belt and sent a stream of muttered expletives into it. Jaina deactivated her lightsaber and made for the door, ignoring Lord Garg. Zekk was hot on her heels. 

They made it to the middle of the square, when suddenly, from behind buildings, speeders, shipping crates and piles of junk, appeared armed life forms of every description. Lord Garg walked calmly over from the door of the Escape Pod. He smiled thinly. "You'll find it's not quite that easy to escape me." He beckoned, and a landspeeder that had been parked innocuously on the other side of the square started up and came over. 

Jaina could deflect blaster bolts with her lightsaber—but not _this_ many. They were beaten. 

The driver of the speeder confiscated their blasters and Jaina's tool bag, then patted them down efficiently for other weapons. Lord Garg tucked their lightsabers into his belt. Jaina didn't know if he recognized them as such. He took the tool bag from the driver, went through it, and ground Corzak's comlink under his heel. Jaina and Zekk looked on helplessly. 

Lord Garg opened the passenger door of the speeder and settled his bulk in the front seat. The guard jerked one of Zekk's blasters and the two Jedi. "In, both of you." 

As Jaina climbed reluctantly over the rear door of the speeder, she realized that her breath was burning her throat like fire from the effort. No wonder, both she and Zekk had no breathing masks. Beside her, Zekk plopped on the seat with a gasp. Lord Garg smiled with unabashed smugness as he fastened on a breathing mask. "The air doesn't agree with you? Perhaps you should have thought of that before you attacked my guards." Jaina couldn't summon the breath to make a retort. She concentrated on taking shallow breaths, using a Jedi breathing technique Luke had taught her. She could feel Zekk doing the same. Lord Garg tapped the driver on the shoulder, and the speeder accelerated. "Since you seem to be enjoying this," said Lord Garg, "after my droids have finished with you, I think I'll dump you by the gas mine to suffocate." Jaina's eyes watered as the wind blew pollution into them. 

The landspeeder stopped before the largest building Jaina had seen yet in Lask, a cube flanked by two domes. Reaching under the control panel, the driver activated a large door in the center of the structure. Lord Garg pointed one of Zekk's blasters at them again. "Out." A black border was appearing around Jaina's vision from lack of oxygen, and it was all she could do to stumble out of the speeder. Zekk tripped over his own boots, but Jaina caught him by the shoulder. Lord Garg obviously found the spectacle amusing. The driver handed over the tool bag to Lord Garg, and Jaina thought longingly of her lightsaber inside. 

Lord Garg marched them into the building at blasterpoint. As the door pressure-sealed behind them, Jaina's vision cleared and the agonizing burning in her lungs ceased. Inside the door was a long, sparse hallway with a few durasteel doors at intervals. Indicator lights above the doors showed either red or green. As they passed a red door, an agonized, wrenching scream came forth, along with a wave of pain through the Force. Jaina shivered. Zekk moved closer to her as they walked. More red doors passed, and every one of them gave off a sense of suffering. Another scream ripped the air. "Stop," said Lord Garg. He pushed the release on a green-lit door. It opened with a soft _whoosh_. Zekk's frantic look told her that they better not get inside that room, or they were doomed. _Wait_, Jaina instructed him. A jab of the blaster barrel propelled her inside. If the room was everything she hoped they should be free very soon…

Inside the room, low-lit glowpanels gleamed off the surface of three modified protocol droids and the armor vest of a sleeping guard. "Wake up, wake up!" Lord Garg jabbed the man. He came awake with a grunt, leveling his rifle at Jaina and Zekk. "Card cheats," said Lord Garg. He pulled a called from his robe pocket and activated the protocol droids. The silver and golden robots creaked to life. Jaina noticed their hands had been replaced with a variety of needles and sharp objects. 

"What is your wish, Lord Garg?" one inquired in a voice that was a pitch-perfect imitation of Threepio's. It chilled Jaina to the core. 

"These two scum," said Lord Garg, "need to learn a lesson in self-control." 

"I see," said the droid. He creaked across the room to a computer console and punched some buttons. A portion of the wall was replaced by an artfully disguised transparisteel partition, which looked into viewing cubicle with a liberally padded chair. "My lord," the droid inclined his head. "Do you wish refreshment?" 

"No, go about your business," said Lord Garg, suddenly cheerful. He waddled into the cubicle, followed by the somnolent guard, and took his seat with relish. 

"Gee, not only a crime lord but a sadistic one to," said Zekk as the two other droids stood upright. "I'm impressed." Lord Garg sealed the door of the cubicle. 

"Begin," his wheeze came through the partition. The droids turned their photoreceptors on Jaina and Zekk with a very sentient pleasure. Needles primed and a small drill on the hand of the silver droid whirred. 

There was a_ click_ as the door of the cubicle locked. From the outside. The guard jumped. "Wha…?"

The head droid turned to look at Lord Garg once, then looked back at its nearest victim, who happened to be Zekk. "What I'd give for a lightsaber…" he said, casting frantically around for any weapon. 

"Relax," said Jaina. The droid's head lifted off its torso and went flying across the room. 

"Error, error," it said before the vox chip gave out. Lord Garg, who had been rattling the door, now began to pound on the transparisteel and curse in various languages. 

Zekk got the idea and overheated the brain circuitry of the silver droid. Jaina simultaneously pulled every limb off the last one. It also said, "Error, error, error…" 

"Shut up," said Zekk as its head exploded. Jaina laughed.

"Festering open wounds!" screeched Lord Garg from the cubicle. 

"Now is that any way to talk?" Zekk asked him mildly. Jaina went over and picked up her tool bag. 

"You'll never escape!" shouted Lord Garg. 

"Oh, don't be so melodramatic," said Jaina. Zekk was frowning. 

"I hate to break it to you, Jaina, but he's right. Unless Corzak can fly in there's no way we're getting out of here." 

"_Blaster_ bolts," hissed Jaina. Zekk was absolutely right. Lord Garg folded his arms in smug satisfaction. Frustration welled in Jaina. Trapped like vrelts on this backwater place, Leia and the bounty hunter getting farther and farther away….unless…

Jaina released the lock on the cubicle. The guard opened the door and swung his rifle towards them. "I wouldn't do that," said Jaina. 

"You're bantha fodder," said the guard. He depressed the trigger and a stream of constant fire spewed from his rifle, ricocheting off the walls of the room. Jaina grabbed Zekk's lightsaber from the bag and tossed it to him. He caught it and ignited it with a _snap-hiss._ Jaina couldn't recall a more beautiful sound.

It was over in a matter of seconds. The guard fell with an ugly slash in his chest, and Lord Garg was in the air, thrashing his plump limbs and using language that would make a smuggler blush. Jaina, who held him with her mind, applied a bit of pressure to Lord Garg's windpipe with the Force. "Acck," he said. 

Zekk went over and busily punched buttons on the computer console. "Try to find the power source for the turbolasers," said Jaina. Lord Garg didn't have enough oxygen to add his comment.

"I'm trying," said Zekk. "He's got all these weird access codes implanted in the system." Lord Garg smiled once again. 

"Try this," said Jaina. She rattled off a string of numbers. The consoled beeped when Zekk entered them. 

"It gave me access," he said. "What was that?" 

"An all-purpose slicer code I got from Lowie," said Jaina, mentally thanking the rangy Wookie. She relaxed her hold on Lord Garg's throat. 

"_Put me down!_" he shouted. Zekk gave him a look. 

"The turbolasers are run off a generator, and that gets its power directly from the gas mine. It's up in the north end of the city." 

"Now!" wheezed Lord Garg. Zekk tucked his lightsaber back into the bag, and relived the felled guard of his comlink. As an afterthought he grabbed two breathing masks that hung on the wall. He nodded to Jaina. 

"Do what the man says." Jaina and Zekk were out the door before Lord Garg thumped to the floor and suddenly became unconscious. 

Zekk quickly handed Jaina her blaster as they jogged down the hall. Suddenly her danger sense flared, and she tackled Zekk aside as a blaster bolt whined past. Jaina grabbed her lightsaber and stepped out into the hallway. Three guards with rifles had taken cover in alcoves down the hall. There were shouts as two more took up position behind her. "Oh, man," said Zekk from the doorway where Jaina had pushed him. Jaina calmly stepped back out of the doorway. 

"What's up with her?" hissed one of the guards as Jaina simply stood in the hall with her lightsaber loosely in her hand. In the doorway, Zekk was wondering much the same thing. 

Jaina drew in a deep breath, let it out, felt the Force flow. "Kill her! Kill 'em both!" said a rough-voiced guard. 

__

The Force is my ally…

"I dunno, captain. She ain't doing nothin'."

"Just shoot her!" 

"But she's a woman and all…"

__

The Force is my guide. 

It seemed as if Jaina had all the time in the world. The guards raised their rifles lazily, and the blaster bolts were slow. Her lightsaber came in to meet their trajectories, it was all too easy. Now the ones behind Jaina fired, and she turned to meet them. The bolts ricocheted off her Jedi weapon and burned chunks out of the carpet. 

"A Jedi…" breathed the one who hadn't wanted to shoot her, as he saw Jaina's face illuminated in the violet glow of her lightsaber. Zekk stepped from the doorway. 

"Make that _two_ Jedi." The guards held position for a moment, then dropped their guns and ran. 

"Nice timing," said Jaina as she clipped her lightsaber to her belt, where it belonged. To hell with hiding it. Zekk flashed her a grin. 

"Thanks. I know." They made for the door, and met with no more resistance. 

Outside the air was still gray and foul. Jaina slipped the breathing mask over her head. "Let's disable that generator before they figure out what we're up to," she said. They took off at a run for the north end of the city. 

"Just a thought," said Zekk as they ran. "You know how to deactivate the generator?" 

"Not really," said Jaina. "This is all improvised so far." She picked up speed. 

"Typical day," she heard Zekk muttering. "Jet down in an escape pod, take on a tourqed-off crime lord, and take out a generator. Just typical. One of my better days, in fact." 

"Oh, stow it, Zekk," said Jaina. "If you talk less you can run faster." Zekk gave her a dirty look, but he speeded up and matched her pace. 

Jaina stopped only once, to key the _Lonely Star_'s code on Zekk's borrowed comlink. Corzak answered immediately. 

"Are you guys _okay?_"

"More or less," said Jaina. "Listen, you need to come in and get us."

"Um, Jaina, I hate to remind you," said Corzak, "but there are those sixty turbolasers protecting the city?" Jaina sighed impatiently. 

"We're gonna take care of those, Corzak. Bring the _Star_ into sensor range and wait for the power to go off. Then you can just jet down and pick us up." 

"Well, alright," said Corzak. "Where will you be?" 

"At the lip of the canyon," said Jaina. 

"We'll be the ones being chased by an angry mob," added Zekk. 

"I'm on my way," said Corzak. He cut off the comlink. 

"Let's make sure he can keep that promise," said Zekk as they started to run again. 

****

Boba Fett hauled the repulsor handtruck across a flat stretch of ground and onto yet another conveyor belt. There was a lot of activity in Lask today. Humans and aliens dressed in the tan jumpsuit uniform of the local crime lord were all over the place, comlinks and blasters out. It was no concern of Boba Fett's. 

The handtruck was completely closed in and double-sized. It was very, very heavy, and a cumbersome job to transport to Mr. Dark's hangar bay. 

Fett gave the handtruck a brute push, propelling it onto the conveyor belt. He held it as the belt moved slowly downward. Stars forbid the it should get away from him after all the trouble he'd gone to. He finally reached the bottom of the left canyon wall, and zigzagged across Lask. Even more guards down here. They all looked at him in surprise, recognizing the Mandalorian armor, but then quickly resumed their scan of the populace. Boba Fett wondered who they were looking for. 

He caught a belt and started up the other side of the canyon. Now Fett had to brace the handtruck to keep it from sliding backwards. He grunted as the truck began to slip despite his best efforts. 

Finally he was at the docking bay. One of Mr. Dark's guards was lounging outside. Boba Fett didn't know if it was the same one as the last time. He gestured lazily at the handtruck. "That her?"

"What…do you…think?" grunted Boba Fett as he managed to bring the handtruck to a stop. The guard popped the top of the handtruck and looked in. Leia Organa Solo lay as if in state, face pale and arms at her sides. Occasionally she fidgeted and murmured in her drugged sleep. Boba Fett held out a canister of sedative gas to the guard. "This is what I've been using to keep her down. One dose every five standard hours." The guard's facial muscles twitched under the black bandanna. 

"That won't be necessary, bounty hunter. Thank you for your service." He opened the door of the hangar bay and pushed the handtruck inside, gesturing for Boba Fett to come after him. Fett did so. 

A ship unlike one Boba Fett had ever seen before was resting in the bay. At first glance it could have been a very old and beat-up _Lambda-_class shuttle. But now two heavy-gauge blaster cannons were fixed to the front, and the engines had been extremely modified. Boba Fett thought it would fit in with the battered battle cruiser he had picked up off Flar. 

The guard handed off the repulsor handtruck to another man at the boarding ramp of the shuttle, and then crossed the hangar bay to a computer console. He tapped the keyboard for a moment. "There you are, bounty hunter," he said. "The money is transferred to your account." He went and stood by the exit, arms crossed, daring Boba Fett to insult him by checking the transfer. Fett didn't bother. Mr. Dark might be difficult but he certainly wasn't stupid. The money would be there…or Boba Fett would be very, very angry. 

****

The air got darker and more noxious with every step Jaina and Zekk took towards the power station. The dwellings thinned out, becoming sootier and more impoverished, until finally only a few abandoned ruins were left. Zekk's breath misted his mask as he tried to get enough oxygen. "Cheerful neighborhood," said Jaina wryly. 

"No one else stupid enough to hang around here," said Zekk as he scanned the deserted street. Jaina pointed. Up the roadway, and about ten meters up the cliff face, was a small metal building. Thick black wires were strung between it and the belching gas mine. Power cables. 

The power station was set on a small protrusion of rock, and made from pockmarked reinforced durasteel. Only two of Lord Garg's goons were visible, both of them wearing full respirators in the foul air. They were alert, however, and both of them held large blaster rifles at the ready. Occasionally the smaller of the two spoke into his comlink. "We're expected," said Zekk at her elbow. 

Jaina took a survey of their options. Stairs were cut into the canyon wall at the front of the power station, but there were the guards to deal with, and probably some automated defenses. In that case, a covert entrance was best. Jaina studied the terrain at the back of the power station. The cliff was smooth and straight, made out of sandstone. The ledge on which the station sat was a wedge shape, and had generated a smaller, long ledge behind the building. Jaina turned to Zekk. "Back door?" he asked. 

"Read my mind," said Jaina. The flame on the gas mine's rig roared, casting an unnatural light over the blighted area of Lask. Jaina and Zekk picked their way through the potholed streets to the base of the cliff. Jaina cast one last glance in the direction of the guards. They were out of sight, and their attention was focused towards southern Lask. 

Jaina unclipped her lightsaber from her belt, found a foothold about a meter up the cliff, and pulled herself up. She switched on her lightsaber and hacked another pair of footholds and handholds out of the rock. She climbed. Zekk followed her. 

After what seemed like hours of slicing a crude ladder into the rock, Jaina reached a narrow outcropping. There was just enough room for her and Zekk to stand with their backs to the canyon wall. The earth vibrated as an enormous amount of power was routed up through the cliff to the turbolasers. Before they advanced Jaina said to Zekk, "We don't have time for anything fancy in here—no cross-wiring or special programming—just slag any power consoles you see and yank out the wires." Zekk nodded his assent. 

Placing one foot directly in front of the other, Jaina began the nerve-wracking walk along the tiny ledge. She used the Force to keep herself steady. 

Zekk gave a gasp as one of his feet slid out from under him, sending a rain of pebbles down the cliff. Jaina couldn't turn around, but she reached behind her reflexively and grabbed Zekk's arm. Zekk clutched at her hand, surprising Jaina. "This is…high," he said, anxiety barely concealed in his voice. _No argument here_, thought Jaina. Zekk regained his balance, but didn't let go of Jaina's hand. Linked like a sentient chain, they inched along the ledge, Kah'miran's breezes blowing the occasional puff of pollution into their faces. 

"About time," said Zekk as they reached the back of the power station. Jaina, searching with both her eyes and the Force, didn't detect any hidden weapons. 

"It's clear," said Zekk. "They didn't think anyone would be stupid enough to try to get in from the back." 

"Your point…?" said Jaina. Zekk grinned. 

"Well, there's stupid people and there's Jedi Knights." He looked at the power station. "Jaina, one problem." He gestured at the dirty metal wall, devoid of features. Devoid of a door. Jaina felt herself blush. Of all the things she should have thought of… Mara would never make such a foolish mistake. Zekk had gone from being jubilant to getting impatient. "After all that, I hope you prepared for this little difficulty?" Jaina heard the muted voices of the guards. 

"Do you know what's going on?" said one. 

"I dunno. Maybe it's another drill," said his companion. "Hang on, my comlink." The voices fell. 

"Jaina?" said Zekk. 

"I'm thinking," said Jaina with a touch of rancor. "Okay, no door." 

"Uh-huh," said Zekk as if she were an idiot. 

"Alright then," said Jaina. "Wise Jedi Master say," she ignited her lightsaber, "If you see no door, you must _make _a door!" 

Jaina cut a zigzag in the wall, quickly as she could. The power station turned out to have a layer of duracrete behind the outer shell, but with a crackle it fell away. Two vertical slashes finished Jaina's 'door'. The wedges of wall fell inward with a crash. 

Lightsaber ready, Jaina stepped into the hole. A blaster bolt zinged past her head. She whipped her lightsaber in front of her and deflected two more bolts. There was a report from behind her as Zekk fired back at three wide-eyed techs that had taken cover behind their computer consoles. "What about your lightsaber?" Jaina shouted over the whine of gunfire and the hum of the generator. 

"Never mind that!" said Zekk, as Jaina flipped her saber sideways to block a bolt destined for Zekk's chest. 

One of the techs, feeling brave, stood up and popped off three shots at Jaina. Zekk pegged him in the chest with a Jedi's reflex, and Jaina easily deflected the bolts. Zekk fired again, hitting a computer console this time. A secondary, higher hum died away and Jaina surmised the auxiliary power had been cut. 

The two techs that were still behind their consoles stopped firing for a moment, and the room was very still, except for the bass noise made by the enormous black cylinder of the generator. Jaina's danger sense, already on edge, sent her a jolt of warning. Suddenly, from the four corners of the room, blasters hidden in the walls sent a sudden stream of fire at the Jedi. The techs had realized only one of them was using her lightsaber. Jaina thought, _damn it, Zekk,_ even as she yelled, "Cover!" and dove out of the target area. Zekk, responding with the Force, shot out two of the guns almost instantaneously. Jaina put her lightsaber in the path of one, sending the bolts ricocheting into a tech, and the other's computer console, sending shrapnel into the remaining tech's face. Zekk took out the guns. 

"Those guards are pretty flaming lazy," he observed. "But then, I doubt they could hear us with the double wall." He leveled his blaster at the control panel of the generator. 

"No, wait—" said Jaina. Zekk fired, slagging the panel. 

"Great, Zekk," said Jaina. She felt unreasonably irritated with him. "Now we have no way at all of shutting it off." The black cylinder continued to hum. 

"Ex-cuse me, Your Worship," said Zekk snappishly. 

"Don't call me that!" said Jaina. Zekk frowned at her. 

Jaina sighed. "Look, I'm sorry. Let's just get it turned off, okay?" She circled the generator, and at the back found three enormous power cables feeding off the cylinder. The cables snaked away through the wall, up into the cliff. "Simple," said Jaina. She pointed her lightsaber downwards, ignited it, and cleaved through all three cables. Instantly Jaina knew it was a mistake. A horrendous popping noise began, and a stream of blue electricity shot out of the severed cables. The electricity hit the durasteel wall, and the charge began to spread. 

Jaina blanched when she realized she'd turned the station into a giant electrified box. Fortunately for her and Zekk, the floor was duracrete, or they would have been fried like gornts. 

The final computer console exploded from the feedback, making Zekk give a yell. Jaina raced back around the generator, which had started to make and new and disturbing rumbling sound. "Do you realized what you've done?" Zekk yelled as the crackling current played across the walls. 

"Something really stupid!" Jaina yelled over the rumble, as she felt a telltale tingle in the Force. 

"That thing is going to overload!" shouted Zekk, pointing at the generator. "With no outlet for the current it will blow!" 

"Then I suggest we get out before it does!" Jaina shouted. She made for the hole in the wall, only to find her way blocked by a pile of electrified durasteel chunks. Jaina yelled, "Zekk, help me!" and reached out through the Force, making the molecules of durasteel hotter and hotter. The rubble began to collapse into a molten puddle. Zekk added his power to hers, and soon only blacked chunks of duracrete were left. 

Jaina leapt the puddle of metal, and her feet hit the safe, non-electric dirt of Kah'miran. The rumble from the generator sounded like far-off thunder. "Hey Jaina," said Zekk. He sounded distressed. "The power to the generator comes from the gas mine, right?" 

"Right," said Jaina. 

"Well correct me if I'm wrong," Zekk said. "But if the generator overloads, isn't the shock going to loop back through the cables and _blow up the gas mine?!"_

Jaina felt a cold ball of fear in her stomach. "You're right…" she breathed. Zekk grabbed her arm. 

"Move!" Not even caring how high they were, Jaina and Zekk practically raced down the ledge, and half-climbed, half-slid down the ladder Jaina had made. 

Reaching the floor, they broke into a dead run back towards southern Lask. The rumbling from the power station was growing steadily louder as the generator loaded towards maximum. Added to that, Jaina noticed the roar of a ship taking off. She looked up out of habit, only to see a familiar oval hull rising into the atmosphere. "Oh _no!_" she wailed. 

"What? What is it?" cried Zekk. 

"The _Slave IV!_ It's Boba Fett! He's escaping!" she yelled. 

"Let's worry about getting off this rock alive, _then _we can worry about Boba Fett," said Zekk as they ran. The streets seemed impossibly long. They finally reached one of the conveyor belts, which was still moving up the hundred-fifty meter canyon at its sedate pace. Jaina and Zekk dashed onto it, running faster than the belt moved. Jaina flashed on the thought that she had effectively doomed the entire city of Lask, and the life forms in it. Apparently many of the population had come to this conclusion, because life forms were streaming up the cliffs to hangar bays, or out of the southern end of Lask. The ground trembled as automated mining equipment exploded from the overload cycle. "Almost there," panted Zekk as they ran up the second-to-last conveyor belt. The Force told Jaina they had little time. 

And then they were out of the canyon, running headlong through the savanna grass. There was a deafening blast, and another fireball blossomed next to the gas rig. The power station was gone. There was a split second of silence, and then a harsh wind swept out Der'bak Canyon, followed by a supersonic boom as the natural gas mine exploded. 

CHAPTER

7

****

Jaina was slammed to the ground by the shockwave from the explosion. When she raised her head, the gas mine had disappeared, along with Lask and most of the canyon walls. Jaina ran a hand through her bangs. "Well," she said, "we got those turbolasers out of commission." 

"Do me a favor, Jaina," said Zekk as he rolled over and sat up. "The next time you ask me to help you with something like this, shoot me before I can say yes." 

The two heard a roar and looked up. The _Lonely Star_ was coming in. Zekk and Jaina stood and waved their arms frantically at the ship. The _Lonely Star_ swooped low, banked, and came in for a smooth landing. Corzak was a better pilot than he let on. 

As Jaina and Zekk jogged towards the ship, Corzak extended the ramp for them. They boarded and Zekk closed the hatch behind him. Corzak came back from the cockpit. His eyes were slightly wide. "Did you…did _you _two blow the canyon?" 

Jaina nodded shortly. "That wasn't my plan, however." 

"You're okay, both of you?" said Corzak with a touch too much concern. 

"We're intact," said Zekk. "Don't worry." 

Without comment, Jaina went into the cockpit and slid into her seat, very glad to be back in control of her ship. She hit the thrusters and the _Lonely Star _accelerated away from Kah'miran. Once they were away from the Mak'ra system, Jaina let the ship drift while she thought about their next move. Boba Fett had eluded them. Her mother was still missing, and Jaina and Zekk had narrowly escaped death. _What a trip_, Jaina thought. _One disaster after another. _

****

Boba Fett had not yet jumped to hyperspace. He drifted aimlessly, thinking. Just after he'd left Lask there had been a massive explosion. Fett instinctively knew that someone connected to Leia Organa Solo had done that, which meant he had been followed from Onderon. Which meant he probably had two or more very torqued-off Jedi Knights on his tail. But Leia Solo was no longer his concern. Boba Fett idly wondered who Mr. Dark was, why he wanted the ambassador. A new political movement was afoot, most likely. Boba Fett suddenly realized that he could use the Solo twins to his advantage. At least one of them was following. They were going to rescue Leia…so Boba Fett would get between them and their mother. And with any luck Han Solo would be with them. Boba Fett was very pleased with his train of logic. He began to program the navicomputer for the short jump to Flar. As the _Slave IV_ flickered into hyperspace, Boba Fett was smiling. His revenge was at hand. 

****

Jaina was elated. She's just picked up a ship jumping to hyperspace near Kah'miran. "Zekk!" she called aft. "I picked up Boba Fett!" There were footsteps as Zekk ran up to the cockpit. 

And quashed Jaina's hopes with a question. "Can we track him?" 

Jaina's face fell. "No, the _Lonely Star_ doesn't have any systems like that." 

"What about through the Force?" asked Zekk eagerly. Jaina flashed on the vision her last concentration trance had brought on. 

"Zekk…" He understood. 

"Sorry, Jaina." He patted her shoulder. "I guess we lost him." He retreated to the lounge. 

As Jaina was sitting, thinking, a HoloNet transmission came through. She keyed it on and saw Jacen. "Hi, Jaina," he said. "The kidnapping is big news on Coruscant already." Jaina nodded.

"We've got some news to." 

"Everyone's all in a lather," said Jacen. "And of course Feyl'ya is acting so _very_ concerned about Mom."

"He should be," said Jaina. "The galaxy likes her a lot more than him—she's the only reason they tolerate him." Jacen nodded in agreement.

"We've hunted Dengar to every corner of the galaxy, but no luck finding him, even though we've got every available ship in the New Republic fleet searching." Jaina heard someone call her from the lounge. 

"Hang on, Jacen," she said. "I'll be right back." She went aft to the lounge. 

"The _Star_ sustained a little damage," said Zekk. "One of the engines has a loose cowling." Corzak stuck his head into the lounge from the one of the cabins. 

"Oh, I can fix that," he said cheerfully. "You two take a rest. It's been a big day." 

"Are you sure?" said Jaina, still protective of the_ Lonely Star_. 

"No problem," Corzak assured her. He went aft to the engine accesses. Jaina went back to the cockpit, musing. Corzak hadn't let on that he was anything of a pilot, and yet he'd brought the _Star_ in for a professional landing on Kah'miran. And he knew some elementary starship repair, at least. Jaina couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong with Corzak. She wondered how the engine cowling had come loose in the first place. 

Jacen was still patiently waiting in the holo field. "Listen," said Jaina. "Whoever took Mom hired two bounty hunters." 

"_Two_?" said Jacen in surprise. "Why in the galaxy would they do that?" 

"Lots of reasons," said Jaina. "If one of them is a little incompetent…"

"Dengar," agreed Jacen. 

"Also, if the bounty hunters are competing for the money, there's more chance of getting your bounty." Jacen nodded, then frowned. 

"But bounty hunters don't work together." 

"Well I think they are in this case," said Jaina. "This isn't just any bounty, and both of them have a special interest in our family…" 

"Oh, blaster bolts, the other one is Boba Fett isn't he?" groaned Jacen. 

"You got it," said Jaina. "We _almost_ stopped him, but he jumped to hyperspace. And a man we talked to on Kah'miran—the planet where we were—said he'd been there for about a day. That's long enough to hand off Mom to someone else." 

"Who?" asked Jacen. 

"_I_ don't know," said Jaina with frustration. "Call me back if you find Dengar, and say hi to Dad and Anakin."

"Oh yeah," said Jacen. "Dad told me to tell you not to take any chances, and be really careful." Jaina rolled her eyes. 

"Jacen, Dad telling me not to take any risks is like Jabba the Hutt telling Prince Xizor crime doesn't pay." Jacen grinned. 

"I figured you'd say that. May the Force be with you." Jacen terminated the transmission. There was a sudden beeping from the passenger lounge. 

"Jaina, something's wrong with the entertainment unit!" called Zekk. Jaina jumped up. She'd almost forgotten about the holocube. 

Zekk was standing in front of the unit, a holovid in his hand. "The security tape is decoded," said Jaina. "At least we made some progress with that." She reversed the cube to the beginning. There was a clanging from the hold. 

"Oh-oh," said Zekk. "Sounds like Corzak isn't as good a mechanic as he thought. I'd better go help him." 

"Come right back," said Jaina. "I want to see who the vandalists were." 

"I'll be back in a minute," said Zekk. He hurried towards the engine access. 

Jaina decided she couldn't wait. She pressed PLAY on the entertainment unit, and the projection began. Jaina forwarded to the appropriate time and waited expectantly. The holo wasn't blurry any longer and she could see all the details of the hall clearly. The service droid entrance slid open. Three men with their heads down moved into the hallway. Two of them listened to the dark-haired man Jaina had noticed when she'd first viewed the holo, then they all moved quickly down the hall. As they jogged out of the frame, Jaina got a clear look at all of their faces. Two of the men were tough looking thugs she didn't recognize. The third one was Corzak. 

****

Leia was trapped in a hazy gray-black nightmare. Shapes swirled in and out of focus. Misty, vague things. Her point of view tilted from time to time, as if she were in a flight simulator. Her head ached with a steady throb. She tried to reach out with the Force and pull herself back to consciousness, but it was simply too much effort. Dimly Leia realized she was under some sort of sedation. Occasionally voices murmured. They sounded like far-off echoes. Leia felt as if she was moving, and then her point of view tilted again. She thought she caught the words 'in here'. Then all was darkness for a long, long time. 

When Leia came back to her half-consciousness, she found it easier to use the Force. Slowly but surely she came fully awake, and the dim, spooky shapes resolved themselves into a chair and a bunk. Leia was lying on a durasteel floor. She tried to prop herself up, but immediately a bolt of pain shot through her arms and into her chest and neck. Leia fell back with a gasp. She tried raising her head independently. Her headache got worse, but she could look around now. She was inside some kind of cell or tiny cabin, on a ship. The engines were humming at full power. 

Steeling herself, Leia tried to put weight on her arms once again. The pain was terrible, but she used a Jedi pain suppressant technique to sit fully up, back against the wall. Automatically, she moved her hand to feel for her lightsaber. It wasn't there. _Big surprise_, she thought. The last thing Leia remembered clearly was coming face to face with that bounty hunter, Dengar. He'd had an odd little gun in his hand, there had been a report, and she had blacked out. Leia inspected herself for injuries. She was basically whole, but her arms and legs were bruised, and she felt woozy and lethargic. Sedatives. She must have been given a massive amount of sedatives. Her simple blouse and trousers were rumpled, and her hair hung in a disorganized knot halfway down her back. 

Deciding there was no way in the universe she could stand, Leia flopped over on her side, and managed to pull herself onto the bunk, which had a thin mattress and no pillow. Getting off the cold floor helped a great deal. The engines of the ship rose to a higher pitch as it accelerated. There must have been a well-hidden holocam in her cell, for at that moment the door slid open and a man with a black bandanna over his nose and mouth, and opaque sunshades stepped in. He was followed by a man with a shiny black mask over his face and dark hair. The synthesizer in the mask distorted his voice, making it robotic and chilling. "Am-bas-sa-dor-So-lo. How-nice-of-you-to-fi-nal-ly-wake-up. We-thought-that-foo-lish-boun-ty-hun-ter-had-killed-you." 

"Dengar?" murmured Leia.

"Den-gar?" inquired the man with a slight, curious tilt to his head. "No. Bo-ba-Fett." It didn't matter to Leia. Dengar, Boba Fett, they were one and the same, enemies of her family. 

"Who are you?" Leia asked weakly. 

"My-name-is-none-of-your-bu-si-ness. If-all-goes-well-you- will-soon-be-re-leased. There-is-no-need-to-wor-ry." Leia lay back on the bunk, unable to support herself any longer. She couldn't escape in this condition. The best recourse was to find out where they were headed, rest and try to get her strength back through the Force. Then she could get away, or get control of the ship. 

Leia couldn't see the masked man's expression, but she detected amusement in his voice. "I-know-what-you-are-thin-king-Am-bas-sa-dor-So-lo. All-your-skills-will-be-use-less. Ta-king-o-ver-this-ship-is-im-pos-si-ble-as-we-are-al-most-to-our-des-ti-na-tion." 

"Where is that?" said Leia warily. She hadn't felt a Force mind probe. This man was either a good guesser, or very skilled at reading expressions. 

"That-is-not-im-por-tant-ei-ther," said the man. He held out his hand to the guard behind him, who produced a datapad and gave it to the man. He made a few alterations to the document on the screen, and in turn handed it to Leia. "Read-this-Am-bas-sa-dor-So-lo." His voice became mocking. "If-you-have-any-su-ges-tions-speak-up." 

Leia focused her tired, dry eyes on the datapad screen and read a few lines. That was all she needed to read before she bolted up, rage and shock on her face. Her heart was in her stomach and both were churning violently. "You—you…" she choked out. The man cut her off. 

"Spare-me-Am-bas-sa-dor-So-lo. This-is-not-my-ide-a." He took the datapad back. "From-your-re-ac-tion-I-ass-ume-the-doc-u-ment-is-in-or-der. Thank-you." He turned and strode out of the cell, handing the datapad to the guard. "Send-this-to-the-New-Re-pub-lic. They-will-com-ply—or-else." 

****

For long minutes Jaina sat on the _Lonely Star_'s acceleration couch, dumbstruck. She reversed the holo and watched it again. No doubt about it, Corzak was one of the vandals. That raised another, more disturbing question: was he really Zekk's brother? Or was he lying? _Why_ would he lie? Jaina watched the clip for the third time. In her absorption, she failed to hear soft footfalls coming up behind her. "Good holo?" inquired Corzak at her shoulder. Jaina whipped around on the couch. 

"Corzak!" He smiled. Jaina's hand went for her lightsaber. Not fast enough. 

"I'm glad you found it interesting," Corzak said, and then his fist flashed out and hit Jaina full in the face. She felt a searing pain go through her nose and cheekbones. Corzak's blow was like a hammer. He grabbed her by the back of her flightsuit, yanked her off the couch, and swung her into a wall of the passenger lounge headfirst. Lights swirled across Jaina's vision as she staggered back. Corzak grabbed her from behind again, by her upper arms. Jaina could feel his breath on her ear as he spoke. "No one to save you this time, Jaina. "Where's your little friend now?

"Right here," spoke Zekk's voice from the door of the lounge. His lightsaber blazed to life. 

"Damn!" hissed Corzak. He let go of Jaina, who promptly fell to her knees. 

Corzak assessed Zekk's threat in a split second, and then dropped down and swept Zekk's legs out from under him. He was amazingly fast. Zekk fell, his lightsaber spinning out of reach. Corzak kicked him once in the soft area just under Zekk's jaw, snapping his head back against the deckplates.

Jaina willed herself to get to her feet, pulled her lightsaber from her belt and started for Corzak, who turned and ran for the cargo hold. Jaina, seeing he wasn't going to stand and fight, contrarily ran for the cockpit, hitting the manual override for every lock and switch on the _Lonely Star_. With most of his access barred, Corzak couldn't hide for long. Jaina went after him. 

In the lounge, Zekk was trying to get up. Jaina stopped to help him onto the acceleration couch. In a faint, pain-ridden voice Zekk murmured, "He sent me to get a large-gauge hydrospanner…I'm sorry Jaina, I'm so sorry…" 

"Tell me later, okay?" said Jaina distractedly. She heard pounding bootsteps in the aft of the ship. She gripped her lightsaber and jogged quickly and quietly after the sound. 

Jaina reached the two-pronged corridor that led one way to the cargo hold and the other way to the airlock and escape pods. It was only logical that Corzak would head for the escape pods. Jaina reached out through the Force, trying to sense Corzak before he saw or heard her. She couldn't. _Oh, great, _thought Jaina. Could she somehow have grossly misjudged Corzak? Was he really Force-sensitive after all and blanketing his abilities? 

Jaina edged slowly down the corridor, lightsaber poised to activate. She tried to crane her neck far enough to see the escape pod hatches around the slight turn. She reached out with the Force again, _still_ couldn't feel Corzak. Jaina bit her lip in concern, and took a firmer grip on her lightsaber. She drew even with the alcove that held the _Star_'s tech station. Jaina heard only the whisper of Corzak's clothing as he sprang out of the alcove, where his black clothes had effectively camouflaged him in shadow, and put his hands around her throat. Jaina's danger sense had warned her a nanosecond before he got a grip and she screamed, "_Zekk!_" The cry was choked off as Corzak pinched a vulnerable nerve in her neck. Jaina felt her entire muscle structure go limp. Dimly, she heard Zekk as he raced from the cockpit. It was like a terrifying replay of their capture on Lask. A black haze crept around Jaina's vision, and it was all she could do to draw breath. What had Corzak _done_ to her? 

The cool deckplate met her cheek with a thump as Jaina lost control over her legs. She managed to hold on to her lightsaber by sheer willpower. Zekk's steps were reduced to a slow pounding, as was the hiss of his lightsaber and a grunt or curse from Corzak. Jaina couldn't help it. She slipped into unconsciousness. 

Someone slapped her face. "Jaina?" said Zekk. He sounded frantic. "Come Jaina, don't do this to me!" Jaina's eyes fluttered open. 

"Do what, Zekk?" she asked dazedly. 

"I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever wake up," said Zekk. Then he became businesslike. "How do you feel?"

"Like I was stomped on by a bantha," said Jaina as she sat up. "Oh no, where's Corzak?" Zekk's face tightened with anger. 

"He got away." 

"But you used your lightsaber," said Jaina. Zekk nodded, and then whacked his fist against the wall of the corridor. 

"I cut him, Jaina! Right in the arm! It should be lying on the deck!" 

"You must have missed," said Jaina. "I don't see any arms." The pain from the blow Corzak had given her was fading. 

"And not only that," said Zekk. "He took our other escape pod." Jaina sighed. 

"We won't have to worry about that, Zekk. Everything that could go wrong on this trip has gone wrong." 

She got up and walked slowly to the cockpit. Seating herself in the pilot's chair, she powered up the engines, heard the reassuring hum from the drives. And then was almost rocketed out of her seat by a deafening _bang_. Alarms screeched as the _Lonely Star_ did an abrupt nosedive to starboard. "What's going on?" yelled Zekk as he braced himself against the corridor walls. 

"Don't ask me!" shouted Jaina as she tried to wrestle the ship back under control. Finally realizing that her starboard drive had somehow lost power, she cut all thrust, and the _Star_ immediately settled back on an even keel. _How did _this_ happen?_ _The engines were fine except for the cowling damage…_ "Damn Corzak!" Jaina shouted. She jumped up and strode back to the starboard drive access. 

Sure enough, the drive was slagged. Corzak had obviously rigged it so that the moment Jaina accelerated the drive would blow. "Well," said Zekk coming up behind her, "we have no escape pods, no engines, and we're floating around in dead space." 

"Thanks for the cheerful prognosis," said Jaina. She looked back at the wreaked, charred drive, which still has some smoke wafting from it. "My poor ship," she murmured. Zekk looked into the access hatch. 

"Actually, it looks pretty superficial. Some major stuff is gone, but Corzak didn't have time to do a really thorough job." Jaina brightened a little. 

"I did hit Corzak," said Zekk. Jaina sighed. 

"Yeah, whatever Zekk." 

Jaina went to the cockpit and found one of the three toolkits she kept on board. She headed back to the starboard engine drive to do what she could. 

Not much. Corzak was an extremely creative saboteur. He hadn't even used anything but the few tools he'd taken to repair the cowling. Jaina turned to Zekk, who had followed her to the access panel. "Bring me all the spare parts we have on board. We're going to need them." 

After two hours of effort, Jaina and Zekk had managed to jury-rig the starboard drive. It would only run at half-power, but it would get them enough acceleration to make the jump to lightspeed and go home. 

Jaina was sitting in the pilot's chair, putting the vector into the navicomputer, when the holotransmitter beeped for attention. Jaina hit the switch and waited expectantly. Jacen was standing in the holo field, along with her father, Anakin and Chewbacca. They all looked worried. Jaina bit her lip. "Okay, what's wrong now, guys?" Han held up a printed data transmission. He swallowed before he spoke. 

"This just came through, unknown vector. It's a ransom demand." Jaina was instantly attentive. 

"For Mom? What do they want? Is she alright?" Han nodded. 

"This says she's not hurt, and if we give them what they want she'll be released. The transmission was heavy encrypt, but not like anything we've ever seen before. It was gone before we could trace it." 

"Are we going to pay the ransom?" asked Jaina impatiently. Anakin and Jacen exchanged looks, and Chewbacca moaned softly. Han passed a hand through his hair. 

"Well, that's the thing."

"What is it?" demanded Jaina. "What do they want?" Han sighed.

"They want you, Jaina." 

****

Leia's mind was in turmoil. The item on the datapad was one of the most shocking things she had ever seen. It had also made her angrier than she could remember being since the twins were born. Who were these people, these vile, despicable profiteers who dared to demand her oldest child in exchange for the most powerful politician in the New Republic? Leia hit the wall of her cell with a clenched fist, accomplishing nothing but a dull thud and a pain in her hand. _Take it easy, Solo_, she told herself. _Think logically_—_why could they possibly want to take Jaina?_ Certainly not for money or power—Leia herself would be a better hostage to that end. Therefore, they must want Jaina for something specific—revenge? Jaina and her brothers had made enemies, but they were dead or safely in prison. For what, then? Leia couldn't think of any reason other than pure spite. 

She wanted to do something—now, immediately, to break out of her cell and punish these monsters that wanted to take her daughter. But Leia had been a diplomat for most of her life, and she'd listened to Luke too much to let anger get the better of her. Anger, and fear for Jaina. _Anger, fear and aggression lead to the dark side_, she reminded herself. But it was hard to fight the sickening, helpless feeling that she had, the same feeling she'd gotten when the twins and Anakin had been kidnapped as babies, and when the Shadow Academy had attacked Yavin 4. The feeling of not being able to do anything to aide her children, of having to trust fate and the Force to keep them safe. 

Leia took a deep, calming breath that didn't calm her at all. Jaina was sixteen, not a child any longer, and well able to take care of herself. She'd faced the dark side in her friend Zekk, and had defeated it. She'd braved the deadly underlevels of Kashyyyk, and the equally dangerous Underworld of Coruscant, and had competently defeated the Yuuzahn Vong ships that had attacked Destrillion. Jaina was strong. Jaina was a Jedi Knight. But Jaina was also Leia's daughter, and Leia wasn't going to let _anyone_ take her children. Not while she was still alive. 

As Leia sat thinking these thoughts, there was a shift in the gravity of her cell. The ship was decelerating. Where they were, Leia had no idea. She stretched her legs experimentally, and discovered she was feeling a whole lot better than when she'd awoken on the hard floor. She reached out with the Force, looking past the hull of the ship. They were approaching a dry, rocky world with deep, circular shadows scattered over its surface. After a moment Leia realized that the shadows were craters. 

Her concentration was broken as the door to her cell rolled open and the masked man and a bodyguard reappeared. "Am-bas-sa-dor-So-lo," said the man. "Wel-come-to-Flar." 

****

CHAPTER

8

****

Jaina sat very still in the pilot's chair, taking in what her father had said. "Me?" she said softly. "They want to exchange _me_ for Mom?" Han nodded. 

"That's what the ransom says. We have a standard day to respond." Her father's mouth set in a harsh line. "Don't worry, Jaina, we're not going let them get away with this. We'll find a way to trace that transmission and blast those kidnappers into the next sector." Jaina shook her head. 

"No," she said. "That's not the way to do it." Han sighed with a touch of impatience. 

"Aw, Jaina, this isn't the time diplomacy or peace! We have to show them that you can't mess with the New Republic." He smacked the printout against his palm. In the background, Jaina saw Anakin and Chewie nodding in agreement. Only Jacen looked as if he might share her view. Jaina shook her head again. 

"Dad, you have to trust me. That isn't the way. It will do more harm than good." 

"No more argument," said Han. "You're going to start back to Coruscant this second, and then we'll find out where they took your mother and storm the place." Han's impetuous self-confidence, which Jaina had inherited, was going full force. 

From behind Han, Anakin spoke up. "Jaina, believe me, this is really the best way." 

"I don't think so, Anakin," said Jaina softly. Han had turned to his furry copilot. 

"C'mon, Chewie, let's start trying to trace that transmission. See you in about a standard day, Jaina. You come _straight_ home, understand?" Her father and Chewie walked out of the holocam field. Jacen and Anakin remained, Jacen looking at his sister with a perceptive glance. Jaina and Jacen shared a strong connection through the Force, and he could tell something was not right with her. 

"What's wrong, Jaina?" he asked. "Dad barely gave you a chance to get a word in edgewise. You look like something's happened." The memory of Corzak's betrayal was still at the forefront of Jaina's mind. 

"Yeah, something happened alright," she said. "You remember Zekk's brother, the one I told you about?" Jacen nodded. 

"What about him?"

"He's…well, the best word I can use is 'traitor'," said Jaina. "_He_ vandalized the embassy. And he took our last escape pod and got away." Jacen frowned at her. 

"Jaina, I thought you were in dead space. Where would he go?" The belated truth of Jacen's words struck Jaina. 

"Yeah," she said. "Where _could_ he go? And who is Corzak, anyway? Blaster bolts, I don't even know if Corzak's his real name. But I'm definitely sure he's not Zekk's brother. And another thing," she said, biting her lip, "I couldn't feel him through the Force. When he told us he was Zekk's brother, I could feel that he was telling the truth. And then when I was trying to stop him from taking the escape pod just now, I couldn't feel his presence until he tackled me." Anakin's brow furrowed. 

"He must be one powerful Jedi if he can hide his own ability." Jaina shook her head vehemently. 

"He's _not_ a Jedi, Anakin, I just know it."

"Not a—" Jacen started to say.

"And not a Yuuzahn Vong either," said Jaina. The Yuuzahn Vong warriors, being from another galaxy, were not _with_ the Force. But Corzak had not been one of them. Jaina was sure. "Another thing," she said. "When he attacked me, Zekk swore he cut him with his lightsaber, but Corzak still got away. Listen," she said to her brothers, "could you do me a favor?"

"Sure," said Jacen. "What is it?" 

"You have access to all the New Republic criminal records Coruscant. Input Corzak's description and name and planet of origin, and see if he has a record. In the meanwhile," she said, "we're off to rescue Mom." Jacen and Anakin both did a double take. 

"But Jaina," said Jacen, "you have to come back to Coruscant. Dad said…" Jaina gave him a lopsided smile. 

"Well, if Zekk and I find Mom, then it will save Dad and Chewie a trip, won't it?" Anakin returned her grin, but Jacen still wore his serious Jedi look. 

"Jaina, don't take any foolish risks. We have too many Jedi doing that already." Jaina heaved a sigh.

"I'll do my best, Master Solo," she said with a touch of sarcasm. Jacen finally flashed her a grin. 

"May the Force be with you, sis." 

"May the Force be with you too," said Jaina as she terminated the connection. 

"So we're going to disobey your father," said Zekk's voice from behind her. Jaina twisted around in her seat, not realizing that he had been listening to her conversation. She nodded. 

"If you want to put it like that, yes." Zekk raised his eyebrows. 

"I don't disapprove, I'm just curious. I mean, our starboard thruster is only at half-power, and we have no idea where Boba Fett went." Jaina bit her lip. 

"Those are problems," she agreed. "Well, we'll just have to make it on half power. And as for Boba Fett…" She gestured out the canopy. "Look at this place. How many habitable planets can there be?"

"Hmm…none?" guessed Zekk. Jaina shook her head. 

"There has to be at least one other place, because Corzak couldn't have been going back to Kah'miran." She brought up the _Lonely Star_'s charts. The map of the sector showed a blackness permeated by a few pinpoints of light. Jaina zoomed in on the Mak'ra and Li'tik systems, the only two. There was Kah'miran in the Mak'ra, listed as inhabited. The other system was made up of three enormous gas giants in close orbit around the sun, and…a tiny dot at the very edge of the system. The chart gave the world's name as Flar. "Gotcha," said Jaina triumphantly. Zekk looked over her shoulder. 

"You think that's it? There's no information other than the survey overview." Jaina nodded. 

"It has to be. Besides, a tiny forgotten planet is the perfect place for kidnappers to hide." She computed the distance to Flar from their hovering point off Kah'miran, and nearly groaned aloud. With their engines only running on half-power, it would take days to reach the world. "_Damn,_" hissed Jaina under her breath. They simply didn't have that much time. Leia could be dead by then. 

Jaina turned to Zekk. "Better sit down. I'm going to try something." Zekk looked at her. 

"Do I want to know what that is?" Jaina smiled. 

"Probably not." Zekk retreated to the passenger lounge. When he was gone, Jaina took a breath. What she was about to do was extremely risky, and her parents had warned her a thousand times never to try it. As Jaina disengaged the navicomputer, she flashed on something her father had once said, _without precise calculations we could fly right through a star or bounce to close to a supernova, and that'd end your trip real quick, wouldn't it? _Jaina pushed the throttle up to half-power, felt the ship begin to accelerate. She placed her hand on the hyperdrive lever. _This is my first uncalculated lightspeed jump…and it could be my last._ Resolutely, she pushed the thought away. It wasn't like she was flying blind. She had her piloting skills, and more important, she had the Force. Jaina engaged the hyperdrive. She just hoped the Force wouldn't fail her now. 

Jaina's every Force sense was alert and on edge as the blue iciness of hyperspace streamed past the canopy. She had to bring the _Star_ out of lightspeed at exactly the right moment or they would overshoot Flar. 

At a sudden tingle in her mind, Jaina pulled the lever back, and the starlines resolved themselves into pinpoints once again. Jaina was looking at Flar. It was a brown world, small and lifeless looking. Deep, circular shadows were scattered over the surface. Jaina wondered what could possibly be causing them, and after a moment realized they were craters. _The planet with many wounds._ Master Arca's words came back to her as she gazed out the canopy, and Jaina knew with a sudden, sharp certainty that her mother was on Flar. 

When she walked back to the passenger compartment, Zekk was sitting on the acceleration couch with a puzzled look on his face. "Hey Jaina, I thought you didn't know the hyperspace coordinates of this place." 

"I didn't," said Jaina simply. Zekk's mouth dropped open. 

"You mean you made a uncalculated hyperspace jump in the middle of a star system…" He shook his head. "And I thought I was crazy." 

"Mom's down there," said Jaina. "I'm sure of it." The holo console beeped from the cockpit. "Oh man, I hope that's not Dad checking up on me," said Jaina as she jogged to answer the call. 

It was Jacen and Anakin, fortunately. They both looked concerned. "Hi, Jaina," said Anakin. 

"Oh, it's you two," said Jaina with relief. "I thought it was the parental unit." Jacen shook his head. 

"Dad and Chewie haven't left the HoloNet office for hours. But that's not the news. Anakin and I went through the New Republic criminal records…"

"Had to crack a few passwords," put in Anakin. Jacen frowned at his younger sibling. 

"Like I said," he continued. "We went through the records, looking for a guy that matched Corzak's stats—and we entered his description and checked aliases. There was no one in the database."

"You mean not in the criminal records?" said Jaina. 

"Not _anywhere_," said Jacen emphatically. "We checked the New Republic registry of citizens, the Moving Vehicles License Bureau, every place we could think of. He's an invisible man, Jaina." 

"Unless he's caused his identity to be erased," said Jaina. 

Anakin shook his head. "With all the records the New Republic keeps, that's just not possible. Maybe you could have done that when the Empire was in power, but now, no way." 

Jacen said, "I even looked in those records Uncle Luke compiled right after the Civil War, you know, the stuff about Force-sensitive people?" Jaina nodded. "I checked it," said Jacen, "just because you said you couldn't sense Corzak through the Force—I thought he might be a dark Jedi or something, but there wasn't anyone remotely like Corzak in the records." 

"Then how come I couldn't feel him?" demanded Jaina. "How come Zekk chopped his arm through with a lightsaber and he didn't drop?" 

"Maybe," spoke up Anakin, "Zekk missed." Jaina glared at him. 

"Zekk doesn't miss, Anakin," she said. Anakin's face acquired the look he got when he was puzzling over a difficult problem. 

"Has it occurred to you," he said finally, "that Corzak may not be human?" 

"A humanoid alien?" said Jacen, looking at his brother. "But we checked the entire New Republic database. Humans, humanoids, and aliens. Everything. No one answered Corzak's exact description." 

"What I meant was," said Anakin, "not human as in not alive." Jaina's thoughts underwent a paradigm shift. 

"But Jaina said Corzak acted exactly like a human," Jacen was saying. "Slept, ate, everything. What kind of machine could do that?" Jaina spoke aloud what she had been thinking. 

"A human replica droid. That's what."

Jacen opened his mouth, then closed it. "Yeah," he said thoughtfully. "Boy, that would explain a lot." It made perfect sense to Jaina. Human replica droids—HRDs—were machines that could mimic humans in every way. The only HRD Jaina knew of had been destroyed before she and Jacen had been born. But the blueprints must have survived, and a skilled droid mechanic could build another with the proper components. Jacen said, "Listen Jaina, I'm not sure how many more times we can call you. Dad's going to be awfully torqued off when you're not back on time." Jaina rubbed her chin in thought. 

"Okay," she said. "Assuming Corzak's an HRD, there has to be _some_ sort of record of his manufacture. Those things aren't exactly made out of spare hydrospanners."

"We could ask Raynar," said Anakin. "His uncle Tyko runs Mechis III, and he'd have access to all the droid blueprints and shipping manifests and stuff like that." Jacen nodded. 

"Good idea. We'll call the academy and ask Raynar to ask his uncle right away." 

"I found out where the kidnappers took Mom," said Jaina. Her brothers looked at her with surprise. 

"Where?" asked Anakin eagerly. 

"A planet called Flar. It's a tiny world that was never fully surveyed by the New Republic, or even the Empire, I think. The perfect place."

"What are you going to do?" asked Jacen warily. Jaina's mouth set. 

"Rescue Mom, and take out whoever did this," she said with certainty. 

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," said Jacen. "I'm serious, Jaina. Please be careful. You don't know who you're dealing with here." Jaina looked past the holo at Flar. 

"We'll find out soon enough." 

Jaina had just terminated the call from Coruscant when the long-range sensor alarm went off. Zekk stuck his head into the cockpit. "What now?" he said. 

"A ship," said Jaina. She looked at the data on the sensor screen. "It's transmitting a standard civilian code." Out the canopy, Jaina saw a small speck on their port side, fast becoming a tiny, swift vessel. It was a maneuverable craft, moving as smoothly as a fighter. The ship got closer and closer, showing no signs of slowing. 

Zekk murmured, "Jaina…" At the same moment a warning flared in Jaina's mind, and she hit the switch to arm the _Lonely Star_'s weapons. The ship was very close now, Jaina could make out the details of its design. Details that made her mouth drop open in shock. A spherical cockpit set between two solar panels—but this TIE fighter's panels were triangular and stuck out horizontally from the cockpit. But that became a moot point as alarms screeched in the _Lonely Star_'s cockpit, and Jaina finally realized that the unknown fighter meant to ram them. 

****

Leia waited tensely as the shuttle landed on the strange planet. Presently she sensed life forms approaching, and the door of her cell rolled up once again to reveal four guards with bandannas, sunshades and very big blaster rifles. With precision a stormtrooper would envy, they aimed their weapons at Leia. The one in the lead jerked the barrel of his gun briefly at the door. Leia got up from her bunk and moved out of the cell into the corridor. 

The guards boxed her in as they walked, two in front and two behind. An eerie sense of déjà vu washed over Leia as she walked—twenty years ago she had been walking down a similar corridor on the _Tantive IV_, and Vader's stormtroopers had been the ones escorting her. 

It was no Lord Vader that Leia found at the shuttle's boarding ramp—just the man in the mask. He looked Leia over and said, "Take- her-to-the-com-pound." 

Stepping out of the shuttle, Leia was confronted with one of the most depressing vistas she had ever seen. Flat tan ground stretched away to every horizon, and the gigantic crater they were in cast it's shadow over the entire group. As she stopped to take it all in, two cold gun barrels pressed into her back almost instantly. Leia walked again. She couldn't make her move until she was away from the ship, and the other guards. Until she had a place to run. 

As they walked along the rocky plateau, a harsh wind screamed across the landscape, whipping Leia's hair back and ruffling the bandannas of the guards. The plateau sloped down, and at the guard's prodding Leia turned—to face the blank crater wall. The two front guards passed through the wall with a crackle as the holographic projection was disturbed, and Leia followed them. 

She found herself in a small indent in the crater wall, almost a canyon. A tall structure was being built into it, reaching almost to the top of the rock walls. The building was almost complete on the lower levels, a solid box of duracrete. The guards marched her through the construction site, past labor droids busily carting materials. They stopped at an airtight durasteel door in the lowest level of the building. Leia had to make a break now. She knew there would be no hope if she got inside the fortress. Her action was lightning fast. With one tug of the Force she yanked the blaster rifles away from all four guards, and bent the barrels of the guns in half. They fell to the ground, useless. Leia sprinted away from the guards, back towards the holo. 

A blaster bolt zipped by her head. One of the guards had managed to pull out his backup blaster. He took aim for another shot, but Leia rolled out of the way, and the energy bolt sailed harmlessly over her head. Coming smoothly to her feet, she grabbed a spare durasteel pipe that the labor droids had left lying around. The guard fired again. Leia used the pipe like a lightsaber to deflect the bolt. Then using all her strength and the Force, she hurled the pipe at the man. It caught him across the forehead, and he dropped to the dirt with a thump. Leia readied herself for the other guard's attack, but before they could, the door rolled open and a figured appeared in it. It was a human woman, taller than Leia, with a long fall of black hair and uncannily bright green eyes. "Very impressive, Ambassador Solo," said the woman. Her voice had a mocking edge. 

Leia had been taking in the woman's appearance, but now she was overwhelmed by the amount of dark side energy rolling off her. The woman looked at her harshly with her odd eyes. Then the guard's blaster rifles lifted off the ground. With a creak, the barrels became straight again, and the blasters once again became usable weapons. They floated back to the hands of the three guards who remained standing. 

Leia felt her mouth drop open in shock, and she quickly snapped it shut again. The woman smiled slightly. "You seem quite awed, Ambassador Solo. I would think such simple tricks would be child's play for a Jedi such as yourself." Leia raised her chin. 

"What you did is a simple _dark side_ trick." The woman didn't disagree. The guards came forward and surrounded Leia again. 

"I don't want anything to do with you, Ambassador," said the woman. "But for a time you must be detained here. Your stay can be relatively pleasant, or it can be your worst nightmare. It's your choice." She turned on her heel and walked away into the dark recesses of the building. 

****

Jaina watched with mounting horror as the TIE fighter grew larger and larger, seeming to fill the canopy. They were going to be rammed and there was nothing she could do. The fighter was too close for the quad guns to target, and with the engines on half power they couldn't evade. _The engines are on half power…_ Zekk was still frozen in the cockpit doorway, his eyes wide as he watched the fighter grow. 

Jaina shut down the starboard thruster and drove the throttle up to maximum. As the _Lonely Star _repeated its dive of earlier, Jaina thought to yell, "Hang on!" She twisted the yoke to starboard as well, and the ship made a gut-wrenching free-fall in the vacuum. 

The TIE fighter passed overhead by what seemed like molecules. Proximity alarms resounded through the cockpit. Jaina killed the portside thruster and brought the starboard and port back to half power. She chanced a quick look behind her, to see that Zekk had been thrown against the corridor wall and was now sitting on the deck with a dazed look on his face. "Sorry!" said Jaina as she began feeding targeting information to the quad guns and blaster cannon. Now where was the TIE fighter? 

The little craft looped back and came into range again, ion engines screaming. Jaina let off a quick salvo with the quads, missing. The craft was extremely maneuverable. It rolled over to face the _Lonely Star_, and two lines of green laser fire streaked from its underside. They cooked close on the outer layer of the _Star_'s shield, starting alarms afresh. Jaina started firing with all three guns, and banked the _Lonely Star _to starboard in an attempt to remove herself from the TIE's gunsights. It was no use. The smaller, faster fighter quickly intercepted the freighter once again, firing a strategic, devastating salvo at the _Star._ Zekk, who had managed to get to his feet, pointed over Jaina's shoulder as indicator lights on the control panel turned red one by one. "Shields failing, Jaina." 

"I know, I know!" said Jaina as she twisted the helm to put the _Star_ into still another futile evasion. The ship shook as the TIE fighter scored a direct hit. The inner-level rear shield indicator turned red, and then began to flicker. Jaina routed the power from the blaster cannon into the shield. Once you lost your rear deflector, you were done for. 

Jaina banked the _Lonely Star_, trying to get out from in front of the TIE fighter, but it matched her maneuver for maneuver, firing relentlessly. It was too small for the quads to target effectively, and Jaina was too busy trying to evade its laser fire to target with the Force. Then the TIE fighter suddenly looped away from the ship, banked, and came up on her port side. Jaina tried to focus on the TIE pilot's mind and anticipate his next move, without much success. _Why can't I focus…?_

Zekk's yelp of alarm was all the warning Jaina had before the TIE fired a missile at them. Jaina's Jedi reflexes were the only thing that saved her, Zekk and the _Lonely Star_ from being ripped to shreds by a flechette missile. As it was, the projectile skimmed the _Star_'s hull as Jaina threw them into a dive. Its proximity sensor detonated it, spraying shrapnel over the long-range sensor dish—and the shield generator. Jaina belatedly realized that that had been the TIE pilot's intention in firing the missile as the shield indicators for the entire _Lonely Star_ turned hazardous red. The TIE pilot had used her own flying skill against her. Gripping the yoke so hard her knuckles went white, Jaina brought the ship out of its dive. She checked the hull integrity, fortunately the shield have saved them. 

As another laser blast rocked the ship, Jaina felt Zekk's hand on her shoulder. She twisted around in the pilot's seat. Zekk locked his eyes with hers. There was a bleep as the shields died. "Jaina…" said Zekk. "I just want to…" Another blast. "I just want to say," continued Zekk, realizing along with Jaina that they were going to die, "That…I…"

That was when the A-wing showed up. Screaming across the vacuum, it let off a barrage of blaster fire at the TIE, clipping one of the solar panels. Jaina watched in amazement as the A-wing barrel rolled to avoid the TIE's answering salvo, then swooped back into a firing position and let off another volley. The shots clipped the cockpit of the TIE, doing some serious damage. The TIE fired again, concentrating on the more immediate threat of the A-wing than on the disabled _Lonely Star_. The A-wing snap-rolled out of the path of laser fire, then quickly returned to its attack. "That is some pilot," said Zekk from over Jaina's shoulder. 

The A-wing had stopped evading the TIE's fire, and one of the smaller ship's shot nicked the A-wing, glinting off its shields. The A-wing opened its drive wide and bore straight for the TIE fighter in a deadly staring contest. At the last possible second, the A-wing pulled up, skimming over the TIE much the same way the TIE had the _Lonely Star._ The shaken TIE pilot's reflexes reacted before his or her mind could, and he tried to jockey the fighter around to get a shot the A-wing's tail. But the pilot of the A-wing was much faster. It twisted back in an upside-down loop and came up behind the TIE fighter in the kill position. The A-wing began to hammer the TIE's engines. The TIE fighter tried to shake the A-wing and saw that it was no use. Suddenly, is made an abrupt sideways turn and accelerated away towards Flar, its damaged but still powerful twin ion engines quickly taking it out of range of the A-wing's guns. A frustrated voice came over the _Lonely Star_'s comm. "Aw, dammit, I thought I had him." Then the pilot spoke to Jaina and Zekk. "You people okay?" Jaina hit the comm switch. 

"Yeah, we're fine. Thanks, you saved our rears." The voice, which belonged to a young human man, chuckled. 

"No problem, ma'am. We picked up your automated distress beacon when your shields started to fail. New Republic freighter _Lonely Star_, allow me to offer a military escort back to our hangar bay."

"Thanks again," said Jaina. The A-wing did a salutary loop, and then cut in its main thrusters. The _Lonely Star _followed at the maximum speed its drive would allow. Jaina followed the A-wing until Flar was out of sight and they were near the sun and the three gas giants. But the _Star_'s charts had said there were no planets or moons that could sustain life here. The cheerful A-wing pilot's voice broke into her thoughts. "I'm sorry I didn't come to your rescue sooner, but as you can see, we're not on the next block over." 

"Your timing was perfect," said Jaina sincerely. "By the way, what's your name?" 

"I'm Lieutenant Devon Carn," said the pilot. "A-wing fighter pilot first class. How 'bout you?" 

"Jaina Solo, captain of the somewhat damaged freighter _Lonely Star_," said Jaina. There was a surprised noise from the comm. 

"Solo? Jaina _Solo_? Boy, I'm really glad I came when I did." Jaina smiled. 

Lieutenant Carn said, "You see that gas giant? Second from the sun?" 

"Sure do," said Jaina. 

"Okay, we're heading for the third moon of that planet," said Carn. "Vector…two-six-eight. Hit your thrusters and we'll be there in no time." The A-wing banked towards the gas giant. Jaina pushed the _Lonely Star_'s jury-rigged drive to its maximum once again. Presently three moons, obscured before by the giant planet, came into view. Jaina saw the A-wing heading for the second one. Because the flechette missile had knocked out the hardwired long-range sensor package, Jaina couldn't tell what kind of a base was down there. It occurred to her that this might be a trap, the A-wing working in cohorts with the TIE fighter that had attacked them. But the Force would have let her know before this. 

Jaina was surprised to see, as they drew closer, that the moon seemed to have a breathable atmosphere. She decelerated the _Lonely Star _as they entered it, following the lead of Lieutenant Carn. Jaina saw a series of low, domed white buildings coming into view. Standard-issue prefabricated New Republic hangars and living quarters. 

Jaina's spirit lifted immensely. They'd stumbled upon a far-flung New Republic base. How lucky could they get?

Lieutenant Carn spoke up again. "There's a landing pad just past the last hangar, you can set down there." 

"Acknowledged," said Jaina. She cut in the _Star_'s repulsor power, setting it down on the permacrete pad. Lieutenant Carn's A-wing came in on its repulsors and zipped into the large hangar across the pad. A moment later, three men in orange New Republic flightsuits appeared in the entrance. Jaina started the _Star_'s shutdown cycle and a self-diagnostic routine to find out how much damage they'd sustained from the TIE fighter's attack. She extended the boarding ramp and walked out of the ship, with Zekk following close behind. 

They met the three pilots halfway across the landing pad. The tallest of them, who had a shock of ash-blond hair and looked to be in his early forties, stuck out a callused hand. "Jaina Solo. I'm Commander Allmen Carn, in charge around here." He smiled at Jaina and Zekk. "Welcome to Solitary Base." Jaina shook Commander Carn's hand. 

"Was the A-wing pilot who rescued us a relation of yours?" 

"Devon is my little brother," said Commander Carn with a smile. "And as to rescuing you, I'm just sorry we didn't get there sooner." He squinted past Jaina at the _Lonely Star_. "Looks like your ship took a beating." Jaina nodded. 

"This sort of…TIE fighter-like ship let off a flechette missile at us, not to mention the blaster damage." Commander Carn nodded in commiseration, and then indicated the two pilots behind him.

"This is Lieutenant Re'han and Captain Blas." The pilots nodded hello. Re'han was slight, with caramel skin and sandy brown hair, while Blas was an enormous man who didn't look like he could fit into most one-man fighters without a squeeze. "We're a skeleton crew at the moment," said Commander Carn. "And only myself, Devon, Re'han and Blas a qualified to fly. I guess former President Solo," he looked at Jaina, "decided there wasn't much of a threat out here. The only reason this base was set up was to keep remnants of the Empire from hiding out in this sector." A fourth man in an orange flightsuit appeared at the mouth of the hangar and jogged across the landing field to the group. He was a younger, darker version of Commander Carn, and flashed a dazzling smile at Jaina. 

"Hi!" He stuck out his hand. "Meet your rescuer. I'm Devon Carn." Jaina shook his hand and returned his smile. Devon held her hand a beat longer than he had to, and Jaina felt Zekk stiffen beside her. She bit back a giggle. 

"Let me thank you again, Lieutenant Carn, on behalf of the New Republic," she said politely. Carn exhibited another dazzling grin. 

"I'd much rather have you thank me personally—and call me Devon." Allmen Carn gave his younger brother a sharp tap on the side of his head. Re'han and Blas snickered. Jaina almost burst into laughter once again when she saw the look on Zekk's face. _So, maybe I'm not _just_ your friend after all_, she thought with glee. 

"If you don't mind me being rude," said Devon, turning his gaze on the _Lonely Star_, "I thought you were supposed to be a pretty hotshot pilot, Jaina. What happened?" 

"We had a little…incident with our starboard thruster," said Jaina grimly. "It only runs on half power, and that's not exactly the best for evasive maneuvers." She gave him a lopsided grin. "But normally, I would have been flying loop-the-loops around that TIE fighter." 

"You're a pretty fair pilot, too," Zekk said from over her shoulder. Devon's bright grin dropped at the classification 'pretty fair'. 

"Oh, come on now—Zack, was it?" 

"Zekk," said Zekk frostily. 

"Right," said Devon. "I think I'm a little better than 'fair'." Blas laughed. 

"Devon's got enough ego to fill two flightsuits, but he's a good wing man." The group chuckled. 

"But we've kept you standing here long enough," said Allmen Carn. "Let me give you the VIP tour of the base." As they walked back to the hangar, Commander Carn said, "We have enough techs, I think we can have your ship fixed up in no time." 

"Thank you _so_ much," said Jaina.

"It's not a problem," Commander Carn assured her. He led them into the main hangar of Solitary Base. It was like any other military hangar Jaina had seen, with a high domed ceiling and parking space for about fifteen small fighters. 

Techs and repair droids were working on a B-wing fighter with laser torches at one end of the hangar. Aside from the craft undergoing repairs, there were two more B-wings, two old-model T-25 X-wings and Devon's tiny ship. Allmen Carn didn't linger in the hangar, instead leading Jaina and Zekk into a smaller series of buildings that held the barracks and base controls. In the control room, Commander Carn went and spoke to two techs that were bent over a computer station. The taller tech, a female Duros, approached Jaina. "YT-1700 freighter?" she inquired. "Heavily modified? Engine, shield and sensor damage? How extensive?" 

"The engines were damaged by sabotage," said Jaina. "The starboard thruster only runs on half power, and the way I rigged it is temporary. A flechette missile hit the shield generator and long-range sensors. Also, I think the missile might have damaged our hull integrity." The tech nodded briefly and then she and her partner headed in the direction of the landing pad. 

"They're my best tech team," said Allmen Carn when he noticed Jaina's worried look. "They'll have your ship back to specs in no time." 

"Jaina just doesn't like people fiddling with her machinery," said Zekk. "Makes her nervous." 

"Well, you're welcome to help them," said Allmen Carn. "We only have five tech teams, and three base controllers plus the four of us who can fly. Most of the techs are working on the B-wing you saw." Carn's eyes narrowed. "It's Blas's B-wing. He said he was buzzed and fired on by a craft similar to the one you described. I thought he was imagining things…but now I'm not so sure. But one thing's for certain—if anything hostile comes into this system, we'll know." He gestured at the central console in the control room. "Base controls, environment, and sensors can all be centralized right there. One person could run the base, really."

"Impressive," said Jaina, looking the console over. "You must have exceptional long-range sensors all the way out here." 

"Only the best," agreed Carn. "New Republic remote base military issue. They're an essential part of the base, since we don't have much of a ground defense at all." 

"Can you tell us anything about the planet where the TIE attacked us?" said Zekk. 

"Not really," said Carn. "It has a thin atmosphere, but it's so small and barren that we didn't bother exploring it." 

"Then someone _could _be in hiding there," said Jaina. Carn chuckled. 

"I don't think so. In the first place, it's such a hostile world no one _want _to hide out there, and in the second place the broad survey would have picked up any ships or technology." Jaina was thinking. 

"Not if they were in the shadow of a crater. If the installation was small enough, they could be missed by the sensor sweep, and they'd be protected from the elements." 

"You think the kidnappers are there?" asked Zekk.

"I _know_ it," said Jaina. "This new information just confirms my suspicions." Allmen Carn looked very confused. 

"Kidnappers?" he said. 

"Yes, the ones that took my mother," said Jaina coldly. Carn's eyebrows shot up. 

"Ambassador Solo has been _kidnapped_?" he asked loudly enough for the three base controllers to look up from their stations. 

"Not for long," said Jaina. "Now that we know where they're at, we're going in to get her." She crossed her arms confidently. 

"I think we should wait for your father and Master Skywalker," said Zekk. "Jacen was right. We have no idea what we're dealing with." 

"I definitely think some backup would be a good idea," said Allmen Carn. Jaina sighed. 

"Uncle Luke has enough problems right now, Zekk, and the time limit on the ransom has more than half expired. We don't have time to wait for anybody. I'm not letting my mother _die_ because you're scared!"

"I just don't want you getting hurt," said Zekk. "If something happens to you that could have been avoided, I'll never forgive myself." Jaina tried to smile reassuringly. 

"Nothing's gonna happen, Zekk. You know me." 

"That may have been a bit of a understatement," said Allmen Carn from the central console. He had been watching the holo display intently for several moments. "Controller, magnify sensor scan fifteen." 

"Yes sir," said the controller, quickly punching keys. A moment later he gave a sharp intake of breath. "Commander Carn, we have an unidentified blip approaching at high velocity. It appears to be heavily armored, and it's not transmitting a New Republic or civilian frequency." Jaina looked sharply at the holo display. Sure enough, a white dot approached the blue circle of the moon on which Solitary Base was built. 

"It's huge," she said. "Battle cruiser size." 

"It's probably a pirate vessel," said Carn, sounding hopeful.

"Pirates would never use something that big," said Zekk, the voice of experience. "To large to disguise easily with all the armaments, and a nice fat target for attacks." 

"Then what in blazes is it?" snapped Allmen Carn. "And what does it want?" 

"Us," said Jaina. Zekk and Carn turned to her. "It must have followed the _Lonely Star_!" 

"How?" said Carn. "TIE fighters aren't equipped with tracking sensors." 

"At this point it doesn't really matter _how_," said Zekk. "But if they decide to attack, we could have a slight problem." 

As if on cue, there was a boom from the direction of the hangar, and the controller who had been monitoring the blip shouted, "Commander, they just fired on the base!" 

"Damage report," said Carn tersely. 

"Minor hit on the fighter's hangar," said the controller. "Long range, high-powered turbolasers." 

"Scramble the fighters," said Carn. "And put the base on red alert." The controller rushed to carry out his orders. "You," said Carn, pointing at another controller, "take Captain Solo and her companion to the secure location below the base. And get that ship on the landing pad into the hangar!" he shouted as an afterthought, running from the control room. Emergency klaxons began to wail as the red alert took effect. 

"Hey! Commander Carn!" yelled Jaina, running after him with Zekk and the anxious controller on her heels. Commander Carn slowed from his run to a speedwalk, allowing Jaina to catch up as he strode along the corridor to the hangar. "You have five operable fighters," said Jaina as she matched his pace, "and four pilots. Won't being one short hurt your chances?" Carn nodded grimly. 

"We weren't exactly expecting an attack," he snapped. Another turbolaser blast struck the base, and the ground vibrated beneath Jaina's feet. 

"Commander, let me be the fifth pilot," she said. "I can fly whatever you need me to." Carn began shaking his head at the same time Zekk grabbed her arm.

"Jaina, what are you _thinking_?" said her dark-haired friend. "You can't do that!"

"And why not?" inquired Jaina. She could see Carn growing impatient. 

"It's too dangerous," said Zekk unequivocally. Jaina's chin set. 

"Are you my father now, Zekk?" she asked, more rudely than was necessary. Zekk drew back at her tone. 

"Space combat—_real_ space combat is nothing like running an asteroid belt or shooting down a few fighters in the _Rock Dragon_ or the _Jedi Saber_," he said. "I don't want you to get hurt." 

"Oh, I'm not gonna get hurt, Zekk," said Jaina. "I promise, okay?" Before Zekk could reply another blast shook the base. 

"Are you sure about this?" asked Commander Carn. 

"Of course," said Jaina. 

"Then you'll find the pilot's ready-room down the corridor to your left," said Carn. 

"Thanks, Commander Carn," said Jaina.

"Don't thank me, just hurry!" said Carn as he ran for the hangar. Jaina jogged for the ready-room, Zekk behind her, still voicing objections. 

The ready-room was empty, with the debris of the pilot's lunches still on the small table in the center of the room. The walls were lined with spare flightsuits and specialized gear, and a shelf above that held extra flight helmets. Jaina scanned the racks briefly, then pulled an orange flightsuit off its hangar. She undid the many zippers and clips, and pulled the orange suit on over her Jedi training uniform and boots. "Jaina, I still think this is foolish," said Zekk as Jaina zipped up the suit. 

"Zekk, the reason these people are under attack is because of me," said Jaina with feeling. "I can't, in all good conscience, stand by and do nothing." She tried on one flight helmet, rejected it, and pulled another off the shelf. "Plus," she said, eyes narrowing, "I'd bet credits to cyberfuzes that the dark sider I saw is the one that followed us. This is a challenge to me." 

"So, wait," said Zekk. "You think that dark sider has something to do with Leia's kidnapping?" Jaina found a helmet that suited her, and made for the door of the ready room. 

"I don't know anything at this point, Zekk, but it's a pretty big coincidence…too big for me to like." Leaving Zekk to ponder this, Jaina ran for the hangar. 

Commander Carn, Re'han and Blas were already assembled by the fighters, and Devon came running at the same time she did. He dazzled her again with his smile and said, "Glad you could join us." There were chunks of cast-plast on the floor of the hangar and a large hole in the ceiling where the turbolasers had hit. 

"As you can see," Commander Carn was saying, "Captain Solo has generously offered to fly our remaining fighter. Re'han and Blas will take the B-wings, as always, and Devon in the A-wing. Solo and I will take the X-wings." Carn looked over at her. "You feel confident to pilot an X-wing?" Jaina hesitated just a second before nodding. She had piloted an X-wing—exactly twice, and never in combat. Her uncle had let her take his decommissioned fighter for a run over Yavin 4, and on the trip to Destrillion during the Yuuzahn Vong invasion with him on the comm and Artoo in the droid socket. So maybe _confident _wasn't exactly the right word… Oh, blast it, she knew how the controls worked, and the rest she'd learn as she went. "Shall we?" said Commander Carn, indicating the X-wings. 

"Why not?" said Jaina. Just then a controller came on the loudspeaker. 

"Attention. Enemy craft is attempting to orbit the planet. Repeat, enemy craft is attempting to establish a firing orbit." The pilots all ran for their ships, Commander Carn pulling himself into his X-wing with one practiced motion. Jaina felt very out of place as she used the ladder to climb into her fighter's cockpit. 

"You're Gold Two," yelled Commander Carn just before his canopy sealed. 

"Gold Two," repeated Jaina obediently. She settled herself in the pilot's seat as a tech with a crane lowered an R2 unit into the droid socket. The tech operating the crane moved it up to the cockpit. 

"You set?" he asked Jaina. She nodded. The tech closed the canopy with a _whoosh_ of compressed air, and Jaina felt her stomach flutter. She took a deep Jedi breath, let it out. _You _can _do this, _she told herself. _You're a pilot, you should be able to handle a little snub fighter_. Devon Carn's A-wing lifted and glided out of the hangar. Re'han and Blas's B-wings followed suit. Commander Carn's voice came over her comm. 

"Okay, we're lifting off now, I think you can handle that. Just stay on my wing and do what I do until the shooting starts." 

"Acknowledged, Commander," said Jaina. Carn's X-wing lifted, turned, and moved out of the hangar. The tech knocked on the canopy to assure that all was well, and Jaina gave him a thumbs-up. "Here goes nothing," she muttered to herself. She ran through her mental checklist. _Activate repulsorlift, raise landing gear, accelerate… _The X-wing moved forward smoothly, following Commander Carn's craft. 

"All craft report," said Commander Carn's voice once Jaina was out of the hangar and all the fighters were rising steadily through the atmosphere. 

"Gold Five standing by," said Devon.

"Gold Three standing by," came Blas's gravelly voice. 

"Gold Four standing by," said Re'han. Jaina took a breath. 

"Gold Two standing by," she said. Her voice sounded creaky and unnatural. 

"This is Gold Leader. Ignite engines," said Commander Carn. The little A-wing's engines blazed as Devon cut in the thrusters, and Re'han and Blas accelerated in a practiced duet. Jaina grasped a lever on the control panel and engaged the X-wing's main drive. The fighter jumped forward, pressing Jaina back into the seat and sending a jolt of adrenaline through her bloodstream. She forced herself to relax. The acceleration wasn't any worse than the time she'd stolen a TIE fighter during the Shadow Academy's attack on Yavin 4, or run Destrillion's asteroid belt. In fact, the X-wing was a much smoother ride, and she didn't have any crazed Imperials chasing her. Not yet, anyway. 

The motley wing of fighters reached the upper atmosphere, and Jaina gripped the X-wing's stick in preparation for the battle. Her breath was loud inside the cockpit. There was a bump as her ship cleared the atmosphere, and a controller's voice came over the comm. "Enemy craft is vector niner-seven-three from your position. You should have it in visual range shortly." 

"Which means they can see us," said Blas. Commander Carn began issuing battle orders. 

"Gold Three and Four are preliminary attack, Gold Five is perimeter, Solo and I will back you up. Readings on enemy craft say it's a ship of unknown design, heavily armored and shielded. Don't waste your firepower on the hull. Concentrate on shield generators and guns." A general acknowledgement chorused over the comm. 

"I've taken out bigger cruisers than this in a skyhopper," added Devon. 

"Carn, shut up," said Re'han, not really meaning it. Jaina gave her instruments a final check and then looked out the canopy. The moment she did Blas's voice crackled out of her speaker. 

"I've got a visual, boss."

"That's a roger," said Allmen Carn. Jaina could indeed see the cruiser. Her breath caught in her throat. For one terrible instant she thought it was an Imperial ship. But no, it was too haphazard and dilapidated for that. The fuselage was oddly shaped, and the hull plates were scarred with blast marks. But for all its decrepitude, Jaina felt that the ship could pack a punch, and that Allmen Carn's little fighter wing had better be very, very careful. "Gold Two, tighten up on me," said Carn. Jaina eased the stick of her fighter over, moving closer to the commander's X-wing. She noticed her hands were shaking. _This is absolutely ridiculous, Solo, _she berated herself. _Stop acting like some green fighter hack and start acting like a Jedi. There's _nothing _to be worried about…is there?_

The huge battle cruiser began to turn on its compass, facing the fighters straight on. "Here we go," said Blas. As if on cue, an incredible barrage of laser fire exploded from the battle cruiser. Jaina estimated that six turbolasers had fired simultaneously, sending a hail of green death towards the fighters. 

"Incoming!" yelled Re'han, at the same time spinning his B-wing out of the way. Blas went in the opposite direction, Devon looped his A-wing over backwards, and Jaina jerked her stick to port. The light, maneuverable X-wing rolled obediently out of the path of the laser blasts. Jaina was jolted out of her nervous state as a blast of adrenaline went through her. The B-wings and Devon had already regrouped, and Re'han zipped ahead. "I'm going in. Cover me, Blas." Blas unleashed a stream of cannon fire at the turbolasers, while Re'han swooped close over the huge battleship and let off a salvo at the faceted, ball-shaped shield generators on the bridge. The red laser shots bounced off the cruiser's shielding, doing little damage. Re'han pulled up and looped away from the big ship, punctuating his maneuver with a curse over the comm. Blas took his turn, his B-wing unfolding into the upright combat position. Seeing this, the cruiser redoubled its fire at both B-wings, knowing the damage their ion cannons and blasters could do. 

Blas darted out of the way of the laser fire, then fired one of his ion cannons. But he was too far off the mark and the shot went wide. "This ain't doing much good, bro," said Devon as he looped away from more turbolaser blasts. 

Jaina let her eyes fall half-closed, her mind searching over the enormous battle cruiser for a weak point. Suddenly, as Blas and Re'han managed to land passing shots on the hull, Jaina saw the portion they had hit spark and flare. But no triumphant exclamation came over the comm. It hadn't happened yet. It was all in her head. "Gold Three, re-target left hull quadrant!" Jaina shouted into the comm. 

"What?" Blas, who was just pulling away, shouted back. 

"Do it!" Jaina practically shrieked. Blas turned the B-wing on its axis and let off a stream of fire at the hull he had just targeted. It sparked, deep scores appearing in the hull plating. 

"Forward shield is down!" barked Allmen Carn. "Get those dammed turbolasers!" 

"Gold Two, how did you…?" Blas's voice held a note of awe. 

"Get moving, Blas!" snapped Allmen Carn before Jaina could answer. Devon and the two B-wings swooped in on the pseudo-Star Destroyer like hungry velkers. A well-placed volley from the A-wing's guns made one turbolaser explode in a brilliant blossom that quickly vanished in the vacuum. Carn brought his X-wing in closer, and Jaina followed suit. 

Re'han zapped another gun emplacement with his ion cannons, and it stopped firing as blue energy crackled over it. Two turbolasers began to target him, but he quickly looped out of the way…directly into the path of the starboard-most gun. The rest of the wing's cry of warning came too late. A laser bolt sheared neatly through his portside wing, and Re'han went spinning out of control. He tried to flip the B-wing on its side and retract the foils so he could regain control, but the gravity well of the moon had gripped him, and it was no use. Re'han's voice held real terror when he cried, "I can't hold it!" 

"Eject!" Allmen Carn snapped. 

"But the ship…" Re'han began. 

"That's an order, Lieutenant!" said Carn in a voice that left no room for argument. There was a puff of smoke from the B-wing, and the ejection pod lifted clear of the spinning craft. Allmen Carn swore heatedly into the comm. Jaina knew that losing the B-wing had severely cut their chances of winning this fight. 

Her attention snapped from Re'han's plight to a hangar bay in the battle cruiser, which was opening and spewing out upwards of twenty of the strange TIE fighters. Before she could make a count, Blas said, "I count twenty-four—no, twenty-six. Twenty-six fighters comin' our way, boss." 

"Acknowledged," said Allmen Carn shortly. "Devon, get over here and flank us. Gold Two, lock S-foils in attack position. Everyone prepare to engage." Jaina hit the switch that opened her foils, and took a firmer grip on her stick. 

The TIE fighters came fast, winking like deadly silver insects in the light of the gas giant. Following standard combat guidelines, most of them hung back while a flight of ten screamed forward to meet Jaina and the wing. Blas destroyed one almost immediately with a salvo from his blaster cannons. Devon gave two others a hard time by flying between them and hitting from the rear. That left seven. 

Allmen Carn began blasting away at the three closest to him, and they returned fire. "Stay on my wing, Gold Two!" he said. Jaina did as he said, keeping as close to the other X-wing as was prudent. Laser blast ripped the vacuum all around her. A TIE fighter flicked in and out of her gunsights and Jaina, using a reflex she didn't know she possessed, fired at it. She missed, but the ice was broken. She could and would fight, and those TIEs were going to be sorry they ever saw an X-wing. 

Devon, having caused his two fighters to collide with each other, came looping back to aid Jaina and Carn. Jaina fired unsuccessfully at another TIE. Then one was dead ahead, in a nightmarish replay of her and Zekk's encounter off Flar. Before she could react the TIE had screamed over her cockpit and its fire was buffeting the X-wing. Jaina cursed herself for the moment of panic, which had allowed the fighter to get a shot at her engines, and threw her X-wing into a dive, then an abrupt loop, trying to shake her pursuer. It didn't work. Devon's extraordinarily calm voice came over the comm. "Hard left, Gold Two." Jaina did as he said, pulling her stick over as far as it would go. The TIE fighter meticulously dogged her movement…and put himself directly under Devon's guns. The TIE exploded, spraying shrapnel in all directions. Jaina let out a huge breath. Over to port, Blas wasn't having such an easy time of it. Two fighters were buzzing him with damaging salvos, and then zipping out of range before he could get off a shot. 

"Get them off me, someone!" shouted Blas, the first notes of panic in his voice. Allmen Carn immediately went to his rescue, shooting a solar panel off one TIE and hitting the cockpit of the other, causing both fighters to flee. But it was a short victory because the sixteen TIEs that had held back were starting to advance into the battle, filling Jaina's ears with the whine of ion engines. Jaina, Devon, and Allmen Carn went into evasive maneuvers, trying to help Blas and keep away from the TIEs. Devon began blasting at the reserves. It did absolutely no good, for as soon as he destroyed one, another took its place, like a frenzy of ravenous piranha beetles. They closed in on Blas, carbon scores blossoming along his hull. Finally the B-wing's shields could take no more and buckled, leaving Blas exposed. A TIE fighter lined up for a perfect kill shot. Devon swooped in shooting…a millisecond too late. Blas's ship erupted into a brilliant fireball, spraying shrapnel out, and, ironically, puncturing the cockpit of the TIE that had destroyed him. 

Now there were ten TIE fighters left. Having destroyed the immediate threat of Blas, they began to target Commander Carn. Devon, fed with adrenaline and anger over Blas's senseless death, started making near-suicide runs at the TIEs clustered around his brother. Commander Carn, though, had things well under control. As three enemy fighters came in from the points of the compass, ignoring Jaina and Devon's futile fire, Carn routed every ounce of the X-wing's power to his shields and sat, letting the TIEs get closer and closer as they failed to destroy him. Jaina was about to shout a warning over the comm when Carn opened his main drive wide and went straight up like an arrow. Two of the TIEs collided head-on and exploded, but one pulled up and looped away. 

"Oh no you don't," muttered Jaina. She threw her X-wing into a turn and gave chase, coming up on the TIE's side. She fired, fired again. The fighter's solar panel disintegrated under her guns and it spun out of control. Jaina lined up and popped off another shot into its engines. The TIE was gone. 

"Good shooting, Jaina," said Devon. Commander Carn had eased out of his climb and was back in the fight. The seven remaining TIEs had retreated and regrouped, thinking better of the ragtag fighters they were facing. 

"Alright, lady and gents," said Carn. "Let's stop the games and finish this." The TIEs had spread out into a loose line, getting all three Republic fighters in their sights. 

"Oh-oh," said Devon, as blaster fire lanced from the enemy fighters. "I'd say its high time for evasive maneuvers." Jaina pushed her stick forward into a steep dive, the g-forces pushing her back into the X-wing's seat. Devon pulled his ship over in a loop, coming back to face the TIEs almost immediately. The enemy fighters broke smoothly to target the individual ships. Jaina had a bad feeling that the TIEs had been playing with them, and now it was time to get serious. Jaina's X-wing bounced as two TIE's blaster fire hit it. Her shield indicators blinked furiously, the ship had felt the hit badly. One of the fighters snap-rolled and came up on her other side. They were boxing her in. The X-wing was buffeted as if in an ion storm. Alarms began to whoop in the cockpit. Jaina forced herself to remain calm. The TIE fighters had lined up perfectly, one on each side and just behind her in a premium firing position. It was their undoing. Jaina killed all thrust and felt her fighter jolt as it came to an abrupt halt. The TIEs shot past. Jaina fired a stream of devastating laser fire at the tightly formed ships, scoring hits on both. They exploded, ripping each other to pieces with the shrapnel. 

"Oldest trick in the book," smiled Jaina. 

To her port side, Devon was not having such an easy time of it. The TIEs on him were firing almost indiscriminately, strafing the tiny A-wing again and again. Devon's piloting kept him from getting blown to bits, but not by much. Four TIEs were still holding a loose formation in front of the vulnerable battle cruiser to protect it from any strafing runs. 

Devon took a gamble, and shot his tiny ship straight at the formation of TIEs, firing madly. He was trying to get through and disable the bigger ship. The TIEs scattered, but one of Devon's shots nicked a solar panel and sent the enemy fighter spinning into one of its companions. Jaina saw the turbolasers on the front of the cruiser swiveling to target Devon. Her warning was too late. Devon Carn had taken a desperate gamble…and it didn't pay off. Simultaneously, the bolts of a turbolaser and an irate TIE fighter slammed into his A-wing. Devon slid to port as one of his engine thrusters exploded under the big gun, and sparks enveloped the ship as the TIE's shot neutralized his controls. With one drive still wide open Devon began a fast and deadly dive towards the moon, becoming a bright streak as the gravity well gripped him. "No! Devon! _NO!_" Commander Carn's agonized shout ripped through the comm channel. Jaina felt a wave of rage and grief come off the commander as he turned to the TIE fighter than had shot his brother, targeting with deadly efficiency and blowing it out of the sky almost instantly. He fired indiscriminately, taking out another TIE, and bringing the turbolasers to bear on his X-wing. Four TIE fighters now, plus the turbolasers. Jaina didn't like the odds at all. 

Three TIEs concentrated on Commander Carn, and one pursued Jaina. She threw the X-wing into evasions once again. The TIE scored hits, mainly because Jaina was still having trouble with her fighter's ultra-responsive controls and firing mechanisms, and Commander Carn was beyond offering her any words of advice. Overcome by Devon's certain death, he was no longer bothering to evade fire, just send relentless salvos at the TIEs and cruiser. A well-directed shot blew the top off of his R2 unit, making the ship even more vulnerable. 

Jaina's TIE suddenly broke off the pursuit, but only because two others had appeared in front of her, and she had inadvertently led him to a perfect shot at Commander Carn's engine pods. "Commander, three-five decimal two eight, on your tail!" Jaina yelled into the comm, cursing herself for leading the TIE to the shot. Commander Carn's battle-honed reflexes snapped his ship out of the TIE's fire, but in doing that a turbolaser blast traced across his S-foil. 

"I'm hit—critical," he said shortly. "Shields at seven percent, no maneuvering ability." He didn't sound as if he was going to leave the fight. As Jaina looped her X-wing away from the relentless TIE fighters, she said, "Commander, get out. You'll be space dust if you stay." 

"I can't just leave you here!" he snapped, still firing. 

Jaina spoke in her most authoritative tone. "Commander, if you stay you're as good as dead. Get out while you still can!" As another blast scored across his fuselage, Commander Carn cursed and then threw his fighter into a dive for the moon. Jaina winced at the strain the maneuver put on the damaged S-foil. Carn might manage to kill himself yet. 

Jaina was alone with the enemy. _Okay, _she thought, _now what do I do? _The TIE fighters made her decision, closing in hungrily on the lone, and least well handled fighter. Stay and fight. There was no way she could evade the TIEs for an escape, even if she wanted to. She wanted to cry with frustration. She was Jaina Solo, daughter of the best star pilot in the galaxy, a Jedi trainee whose special gift was flying, and she couldn't even control this tiny X-wing fighter. A direct hit made the ship bounce out of control again, as if to mock her. Jaina concentrated with all her mind and barely brought the ship back. She looped and dived for the thousandth time, and for the thousandth time failed to shake the pursuing TIEs. What was the matter with her? She was doing everything correctly, thinking her maneuvers through, watching the TIEs and guessing at their next move, trying to outthink them. And suddenly it came to her. 

__

Let go your conscious self…act on instinct. It was so simple Jaina hadn't seen the solution to her problem. Thinking your way through a space battle would only get you fried. Pilots used their instincts and reflexes…and a Jedi pilot even more so. Jaina took in a deep breath, let it out. "You want to play?" she asked the TIE fighters. "Then let's play." 

She shut her eyes and let the Force engulf her. The X-wing's controls were still fast and light, but now Jaina was adjusting her reflexes to meet them, pilot and ship working as a single unit. The TIE fighters presented huge, slow targets. But they _were_ firing, two flanked and two formed up on her. Fortunately the cruiser had stopped shooting, thinking its fighter could decimate the lone X-wing. That's what they thought. Jaina routed more power to the guns, checked her shields and then pulled the stick into her stomach hard, the X-wing looping over backwards into a U-turn, coming out of it with guns blazing. One TIE fighter exploded instantly, and she hit the solar panel of another, putting it out of the fight. That left only two. Jaina's heightened senses warned her as the one on her starboard side fired. She snap-rolled her ship out of the way, turned the roll into a high climb and looped back down behind the TIE. She fired, missed, but it didn't matter. She was in control now, flying like a Jedi Knight. At that moment her long-range sensor bleeped, and Jaina listened, shocked, to the voice that came over the comm. "Hey, Jaina, need some help?" 

_"Zekk?"_ Jaina cried. The newly repaired _Lonely Star_ streaked overhead, both engines going full throttle, towards the cruiser. The big ship brought its devastating turbolasers to bear on Jaina's freighter. The _Star_'s powerful quad guns fired, taking out two turbolasers before Jaina could blink. Zekk turned the ship smoothly away from the returning fire. Jaina grinned with relief. 

"I'll take the TIEs. Finish off that cruiser." 

"Will do," said Zekk, retargeting the battleship. 

One of the TIEs was on Jaina's back again, ready to fight to the death. Jaina, unperturbed, threw the X-wing into a quick Smuggler's Reverse and fired into a very surprised TIE pilot's face. That left only one, who Jaina realized had been there throughout the battle, dodging and evading cagily. The leader. The TIE came down hard, ignoring Jaina's evasive maneuvers. Zekk swiveled one of the _Lonely Star_'s lasers around and fired, but the shots came from too far to do any good. There was a gut-clenching mechanical screech as the enemy fire hit her R2 unit, and the X-wing bounced, shield indicators blinking like a light show. "Jaina, you took a bad hit!" Zekk shouted unnecessarily over the comm. 

"I'm okay!" she yelled back. "Get rid of the cruiser! I'm taking it down to the deck!" With that, she pushed her damaged ship into a hard dive for the moon. She flicked switches madly, routing all the power from her guns and a good portion from her engines into the shields, which returned to a sickly yellow. Not great, but enough for what she had in mind. Her fighter bounced as its straight dive presented an easy target for the TIE's fire. A bead of sweat worked down Jaina's face as she put all the power in the rear shield and hoped the front of her ship held up under the atmospheric friction. The X-wing's engines whined as the gravity of the moon pulled Jaina down faster and faster, straight as a blaster bolt. The TIE scored another hit, setting off alarms. The rough alkaline ground of the moon was a hundred meters away…ninety…eighty… The TIE hit her again, but Jaina grimly gripped the stick and kept the dive straight. Fifty meters. This hotshot was in for the surprise of his life. He had to be wondering by now why Jaina wasn't trying to shake him. Thirty meters. Jaina's shields died under the next shot. She rammed the heel of her hand into the throttle, pushing it past the red line. Her engines screamed, the ground rushed up. Fifteen, ten, nine, eight… Jaina could feel the next shot coming, and the TIE getting in close to make sure it finished her. Four, three, two… Jaina yanked back on the stick so hard the muscles in her arms spasmed. The X-wing's bottom engine pods scraped the ground, turning the dirt to molten stone, as the tiny fighter climbed. Jaina had pulled up at exactly the right time. The TIE fighter, however, wasn't so lucky. It plowed into the ground and exploded into a fireball. 

As Jaina pulled away from the crash sight, a controller came on, calling the fighter wing back to base. The battle cruiser was retreating. 

Jaina swung her fighter back towards Solitary Base, heart battering her ribcage with the adrenaline rush of her desperate kamikaze dive. Her father, her uncle, the myriad fighter pilots she'd known were right. There was nothing like the thrill of combat. But the loss of Blas and Devon, and the realization that Jaina had very nearly lost her own life damped the exhilaration. 

She set her battered and atmosphere-scorched X-wing down in the hangar, next to Commander Carn's even more damaged craft. Carn himself was sitting on a shipping crate at the edge of the room, watching numbly as the techs worked over his ship. There was a low rumble from outside as the _Lonely_ _Star_ came down on the landing pad, safe and sound and without a scratch. Jaina climbed out of her fighter on shaky legs, taking off her helmet and smoothing her sweat-soaked hair. Her entire body ached from the g-forces she'd pulled during the dive. She walked slowly over to Commander Carn and stood by the crate quietly. He looked over at her, then looked away again. "It wasn't your fault, or anyone's," said Jaina, knowing the words would bring little comfort. Commander Carn didn't respond. Jaina touched him lightly on the shoulder, and then walked away. 

"You're wrong," said Commander Carn from behind her. Jaina turned back. 

"What do you mean, Commander?" 

The commander's tone was laced with bitterness. "It was your fault Devon died. You brought that cruiser here." 

Jaina was dumbfounded. "But, I—" But then she realized she couldn't deny it, what Carn said was true, even if it was spoken out of grief and anger. 

"My little brother saved your life, and…he died because of you," Carn said in a low, hateful tone. "Get out of my base, and tell your high-and-mighty mother not to send anyone from Coruscant here again." Jaina felt her cheeks flushing with indignation, and embarrassment when she realized Commander Carn had every right to want her gone. She could argue that Devon had taken a foolish risk and paid the price, but Jaina didn't think that would do much good. 

"I'm sorry, Commander," she said shortly. Commander Carn deliberately turned away. Jaina walked to the opening in the hangar, stopping to unzip her orange fighter suit. She folded it neatly and left it on a crate. As she started for the _Lonely Star_, the boarding ramp rolled down. Zekk disembarked…followed by Devon Carn. Jaina felt her eyes grow wide with surprise. Devon saw the desolate form of his older brother and he pushed past Zekk, running at top speed towards Allmen. Commander Carn heard the running footsteps but didn't look up until Devon threw his arm around the older man in a hard hug. Commander Carn's face went absolutely white when he saw Devon, who, on closer inspection, didn't look so good. His right arm—the one he didn't use—hung at an odd angle, and a gash on his temple was steadily pumping blood. The rest of his face was bruised and swollen, and he grimaced with pain every time he took a breath. Commander Carn took all this in a split second, decided Devon was real and returned his brother's hug, only releasing him at his grunt of pain. Jaina bit her lip watching the two. Commander Carn caught her eye, but looked away again. He still blamed her. "That's gratitude for you," she muttered, turned away from the happy pair and strode out to the _Lonely Star_. "Warm up the ship," she told Zekk briefly. "We're going to get Mom." 

****

CHAPTER

9

****

As Jaina completed her final check of the _Lonely Star_, she saw a figure jog out of the base's hangar bay towards her ship. "Are we set?" asked Zekk from the cockpit door. 

"One sec," said Jaina. "Let's see what he wants." She pointed to the figure. 

"Hey, wait for me!" shouted Devon Carn. His broken arm was in a sling, and he had pieces of skin-graft bandage stuck to his face. He jogged awkwardly from the pain he was in. 

"He's got to be kidding," said Zekk. The thought had also occurred to Jaina that Devon was in no shape to head into another battle. Devon's feet clanked heavily on the boarding ramp as he came into the ship. Jaina turned in the pilot's seat to frown at him. 

"That was a fast recovery. You're not thinking of coming with us?" Devon's eyes were glazed, with pain or painkillers Jaina couldn't tell, but he nodded confidently. 

"Look, I know my bro is torqued at you, but I'm fine—really. 

That accident was no fault of yours." Both Jaina and Zekk eyed his flushed face skeptically. "From the look of what we ran into up there, it looks like you could use all the help you could get." 

"From the look of _you_," said Zekk, not too cordially, "I think a bacta tank would be a good place for you, not Flar." Devon shot him a glare that was as intense as his previous smiles. 

"I'm coming with you, Zack," he said in a disturbing tone. Jaina sensed a fight coming, and to avoid what was certain to be an explosive confrontation, she stepped in and spoke. 

"Go strap in, both of you." 

"My name is Zekk," she heard Zekk mutter as the two men went back to the acceleration couch. Jaina bit her lip as the engines of the _Star_ came to life for liftoff. Something in the Force felt wrong, the same wrongness that had been tickling her mind ever since they had arrived on Onderon. For the life of her, Jaina could not figure out what it was. It was like one of Anakin's holopuzzles, meaningless until you found the key piece to fit in. She wished she could talk to Zekk about it, but she couldn't with Devon in hearing range. 

The _Lonely Star_ lifted under Jaina's guidance, repulsors bearing it quickly away from Solitary Base, but not from Jaina's bad feeling…

****

Leia was sitting miserably in her cell inside the dank, pitch dark miniature fortress that the dark Jedi Tellek commanded. Tellek was the woman with the flowing hair, and she had related her name and another, more disturbing piece of information to Leia before her guards dumped her in this cell. Leia was inside a dark force cage. The cages tapped into the energy of the dark side, and had been used to contain and transport Jedi Knights during the Clone Wars, and Emperor Palpatine's rebirth. Luke had spent a short time in one when he had been trying to stop Palpatine's rampage, and it was exactly as he described it. The loud energy hum that Tellek had briefly demonstrated for Leia literally _drained_ her of her Force power, making her weak and dizzy. "If you try another stunt," Tellek had informed her, "the energy level of this cage will double…and I'll leave it powered up." Leia was trapped like a vrelt. She had spent the hours of sitting puzzling mightily over Tellek's identity. She was a powerful Force user, more skilled in the dark side than most of the untrained buffoons Leia had encountered after the Emperor's death. She had been trained…but by whom? Brakiss was dead, as were Palpatine's adepts and Luke's other failed students. The dark side had been largely erased from the galaxy. Yet Tellek knew the ancient Sith techniques, and she had access to a blueprint of a dark force cage and who knew what else. Leia wondered if a copy of Palpatine's dark side instructions had survived the destruction of his second clone. It was a chilling thought, but Leia realized that, unpleasant as the possibility was, that she would have to consider it if she wanted to save Jaina from certain death and make it out of Tellek's clutches alive. 

****

Jaina didn't bother going to hyperspace for the nanojump to Flar, she simply opened the _Lonely Star_'s repaired drive wide and bore straight for the tiny world. As the freighter screamed across space, its comm beeped with an incoming message. Jaina flicked the switch briefly, bracing herself for a fast and furious confrontation with her father. The time she should have been back on Coruscant had come and gone hours ago, and Han must be frothing at the mouth by now. So when an adolescent voice said, "Jaina, it's me," she sat back into the pilot's chair with relief. 

"Jacen!" Her brother's voice was hushed and cautious, and background noise suggested he was in a public place. "Where are you? What's going on?" Jaina demanded. 

"I'm in a public comm booth in the Imperial Shopping Center," said Jacen. "And, well, a lot of stuff has happened." He sounded worried, unusual for him. 

"Tell me the saga," said Jaina resignedly. She checked the time to Flar. They were more than halfway there. 

"Okay," said Jacen, taking a breath for his tale. "First of all, you're grounded into the next century, and I do mean grounded." 

"The important stuff, Jacen?" said Jaina impatiently. 

"Dad and Chewie didn't have any luck with the ransom transmission, and when you didn't show they took off in the _Falcon_, and commed every New Republic ship on the Outer Rim to keep a lookout for you. They pulled your coordinates from that last HoloNet call. Man, Jaina, you are in _so_ much trouble when they get there." 

Jaina heaved a sigh. "I know, I know. Any luck with Corzak?" She could almost see Jacen biting his lip in a mirror imitation of her own nervous gesture. 

"Yeah, there was. I called Raynar and he asked his uncle about it, and Tyko Thul didn't know anything, but he was interested enough to give us access to the droid database that Mechis III and the other manufacturing worlds maintain." 

"And?" said Jaina tensely. 

"And," said Jacen, "We found something, all right. An order was placed to Mechis III for twenty-five droid skeletons. Top-grade titanium, all the latest joint works. Around the same date another order was placed with a top-of-the-line biotech company for twenty-five male bioskins. But, that's not the big news. The really big thing is—I never would have seen this, Anakin picked it out of a subprogram—we were looking around to see if anyone had ordered up copies of suspicious droid blueprints, and we found a file slice. Into some HRD blueprints. You were right, Jaina, and not only that, the slice was into Guri's blueprints." 

"_Guri_?" said Jaina in shock. "_The_ Guri? The HRD built for Xizor?"

"I'm afraid so," said Jacen. "All this person had to do was put a different skin over the superstructure, and voila, you have Corzak. A combat HRD, he'd be twice as strong and fast as any living life form. And, as you've probably guessed, the slice and the two orders all had the same digital signature." 

"Who would build twenty-five combat HRDs?" wondered Jaina aloud. 

"Someone rich," Jacen said. "And someone who had the know-how to slice into those closed-down files. Anakin said it wasn't like anything he had ever seen. They just walked right into the program like they had the access codes. Like they read someone's mind." A pushy computer vox chip broke in.

"You have thirty seconds left on your call. Please deposit two credits for the next five standard minutes." Jaina heard some muttering and thumping from Jacen, and then the vox chip said, "Thank you. Please proceed with your call." 

"You owe me four credits," Jacen informed her. "Anyway, Anakin traced the signature, and found a shipping manifest for the skins and droid skeletons. They were going to a little backwater planet on the Outer Rim." 

"Kah'miran," said Jaina suddenly. "That was the planet, wasn't it?" 

"You guessed it," said Jacen. "Jaina, do you have any idea what this means? Because I don't." 

"It means," said Jaina as the key piece of the holopuzzle snapped into mental place, "that the people that kidnapped Mom were able to pay for two of the most expensive bounty hunters in the galaxy. And they're also the ones who had the money and the skill to build their own army of HRDs without a second thought. They also managed to dig up old Imperial plans for TIE fighters. Lots of them."

"TIE fighters?" said Jacen in surprise. "You didn't say anything about TIE fighters!"

"Long story," sighed Jaina. "My point is, Jacen, that these people have access to the most secret resources and technology in the galaxy. And it's all old Imperial inventions. We've happened into the middle of something big, Jacen, bigger than Mom, or any of us." She didn't tell Jacen about the vision that had come to her on Kah'miran.

Jacen heaved a sigh. "I have a bad feeling about this."

"You're not the only one," said Jaina. 

"One thing bothers me though," said Jacen. "If Corzak met up with you on Onderon, and he's a combat HRD, why didn't he just snatch Mom and disappear? Why go to all this trouble of hiring two bounty hunters and leading you all over the galaxy?" Jaina gasped. The niggling tickle in the Force suddenly came clear. 

"Jaina?" said Jacen with concern. "What is it? Are you okay?" Jaina's mind was racing. The mysterious, well-endowed group that had taken her mother…the vision…Corzak and the cave on Onderon… _How could I have not seen it? It was right in front of my eyes all this time…_

"Corzak didn't take Mom because it wasn't Mom they're after," said Jaina quietly. "The ransom was the answer, only I was too stupid to see it." 

"Well you can add me to the stupid list as well," said Jacen, "because I have no idea what you're talking about." 

"I'm talking about something so obvious it seemed ridiculous until just now," said Jaina. "But after you telling me about the HRDs, and seeing those TIE fighters… Jacen, they don't want Mom. They don't want any one person. Except me. These people are of the dark side."

"Jaina," said Jacen, "what are you saying?" 

"Don't you see?" cried Jaina. "I—we—all of us have been playing along ever since Onderon—before Onderon! They set that and Peckum's accident up as a lure for Mom and me and Zekk. The vandalism, everything has been a carefully laid trap to pull us in." 

"Us?" asked Jacen quietly. 

"The Jedi, at least that's what I'm assuming," said Jaina, excitement beginning to replace her initial panic. "More specifically, me, for reasons I can't imagine. I haven't told you quite the whole story, Jacen. I saw a Force vision on Kah'miran, a terrible one of a dark Jedi, who was very near to me. She was on Flar. I thought at the time it was a warning, but I think she was trying to lure me directly there." 

"But you stayed on Kah'miran, looking for Boba Fett," Jacen began to get the idea. "And so they—she—had to come up with a new plan."

"Attacking Solitary Base," agreed Jaina. "Oh, that's the military base we were at. I'll explain later. But now do you see how they wove this web, and I played right into it?" 

Jacen let out a breath on the other end of the comm. "By the Force," he said softly. Jaina knew the full realization must be dawning on him, because he never used that outdated expression. "Jaina, you're not going back to Flar?" he said suddenly. 

"Of course," said Jaina. "I have to. It's the end of the journey, and I'm going to see it through." Jacen was silent for a moment. 

"Jaina, watch out for yourself," he said finally. "If this woman planned all of the things you say, she must be incredibly powerful. Maybe more powerful than Va—then our grandfather." 

"I know that," said Jaina with a new calm as Flar appeared in the canopy. "But I have to face my destiny, just like we all do." She touched the comm speaker, wishing she was with her brother to give him a reassuring hug. "May the Force be with you, Jacen." She paused, thinking of the uncertain future. "Always." 

Flar grew large outside the canopy as the _Lonely Star_'s powerful repaired engines propelled them towards the planet. Zekk and Devon were silent in the passenger lounge. Jaina piloted the _Star_ so it would fall into orbit with the planet, and sat back in the pilot's seat to gather her strength for the challenge ahead. 

****

Leia's mind was bubbling with boredom. She had lost track of the hours she'd been confined to her cell, but she was going to scream if something didn't happen soon. She thought about the ransom demand. There was no way Han would agree to hand over Jaina, so she was safe. Or was she? Leia was plagued by the new realization that Jaina and Zekk might have followed her from Onderon, might try to attempt a rescue. Leia closed her eyes and tried to meditate in the Force to calm herself. As she felt the energy begin to flow, her eyes suddenly snapped open as she felt Jaina's presence close by. She _had_ come, and played right into Tellek's hands. _To quote Jacen_, Leia thought, _oh, blaster bolts._

****

Jaina eased the _Lonely Star_'s yoke over and engaged the drive. For better or for worse, she was going to finish her journey. As the ship entered the atmosphere, Jaina sent out a sensor sweep, getting no life or technology readings. The landscape sliding under the ship was absolutely barren, marred with high jags of rock and pitted with craters. Jaina pressed a few buttons on the control panel to eliminate the sensor echoes bouncing off the crater walls, and was presented with a clear picture of Flar's terrain…and a technology reading in the northern hemisphere, a few kilometers from where Jaina was. "Gotcha," she murmured as she aimed the _Star_ towards the spot. "And this time, you won't get away so easily." She brought the ship lower, hopefully under any radar scans, skimming the surface of the planet. Flar unfolded under the ship as it rocketed on, and Jaina's thoughts drifted to Devon Carn. She hoped they didn't encounter any heavy resistance on the planet. It would very likely kill the young pilot. And he had seemed so feverish, so…changed. Jaina's attention snapped back to her piloting as she pulled up to crest a high peak. The ship was right on top of the sensor reading. The _Star _dipped down. One of the largest craters yet was spread out before Jaina. On the opposite side was the source of the reading. Jaina cut in repulsor power and brought the _Star_ down on a round outcropping of rock near the top of the crater, on the opposite side from the reading. The flat pad was ideal for keeping a lookout for hostile forces, a non-strenuous job she hoped she could talk Devon into. Jaina could feel that they were in danger. It was imbedded the dirt and rocks, was borne on the harsh wind that whistled past the ship. She released the boarding ramp and stood, clipping her lightsaber to her belt. As the group congregated at the top of the ramp, Zekk gave her a silent worried look. He felt the evil in this place too, even without hearing Jaina's frightening speculations on why they had been drawn here in the first place. Devon moved quickly and cautiously down the boarding ramp, not gifted with the danger sense of a Jedi. He couldn't feel the waves of peril coming through the Force. Jaina moved quickly after him. "Devon, I think you should stay here and guard the ship. Keep yourself out of the line of fire." Devon gave her a contemptuous look. 

"This bucket had security systems?" he inquired. Jaina took offense at his remark.

"Of course," she said a little sharply. 

"Then let's move it," said Devon, striding off as quickly as his ribs would allow. 

"Devon—" said Jaina, then heaved a sigh and hurried after the rash young fighter pilot. Zekk, looking like he wanted to say something, came after Jaina. 

****

Leia was hard-pressed to hold back her tears. Jaina, her beautiful, brave, strong and smart daughter was in terrible danger, and there wasn't a flaming thing she could do about it. She was biting her lip hard enough to leave a deep blue mark when the cell door slid up. The guard didn't even need to gesture with his blaster rifle. Leia was so glad to get out of the dark force cage that she practically jumped up and ran over to him. He marched her down the same austere corridor they had come by, into a large war room. Doors and power generators were set up on the bottom level, and a huge computerized strategy holo console soared above them, circled by a walkway and other control stations. Men dressed in identical uniforms to the guard that led Leia were posted at the doors and manning the consoles around the central computer. Leia was persuaded up a set of stairs and onto the central walkway around the computer, which was displaying a holographic map of the surrounding terrain, similar to the maps used during battles. Tellek was seated in a repulsor chair by the holo, watching with a pleased look on her face. "It seems your husband and colleagues have decided to cooperate with our demand." Leia saw three figures working their way down a wall of the crater in the holo. It was Jaina, accompanied by Zekk and a short man dressed in an orange flightsuit. Leia felt a fresh surge of anger and worry, but kept her expression neutral. 

She turned at the clanking of footsteps on the stairs from the lower level, and saw tall, slim young man with clipped black hair and a matte black jumpsuit came onto the walkway. Leia stared. "Corzak!" Corzak turned to her with his pleasant and handsome smile. 

"Ambassador Solo! How nice to see you again." Leia's mouth fell open, hardly an adequate response. It was clear now who had engineered the embassy vandalism and very likely led Jaina and Zekk to Flar. 

"Corzak, you…" she was at a loss, could only clench her fists impotently. 

"Double crosser? Spy? Traitor?" suggested Corzak helpfully. Leia lasered him with a potent glare. Tellek looked back and forth between them, smiling. 

Leia straightened up. She had faced traitors before, and knew most of them to be cowards at the core. "I can't believe that you, Corzak," she said, "Zekk's brother would fall in with this…this…" Leia gave Tellek her most contemptuous look, "gutter scum." Corzak didn't react, but his gaze went hard. Tellek jumped out of her chair and crossed to Leia in a swift stride. 

"Watch your words, _Ambassador_ Solo. You're not princess of Alderaan anymore." Leia realized she had made a tactical error in angering Tellek and failing to elicit either fear or anger from Corzak, but she met the taller woman's gaze evenly. Tellek looked really angry for the first time. The first time, for that matter, she had shown any real emotion other than scorn. 

"Now now, ladies," said Corzak in a silky-smooth voice, sounding a lot like Zekk when he was talking with Jaina, "calm yourselves. She's not worth the effort, Tellek." Tellek's gaze was filled with hatred as she sat back down in the repulsor chair, but, like Leia, she spoke calmly, not showing her mental cards. 

"Quite right, ah, Corzak. Ambassador Solo will get hers soon enough." Leia's eyes flicked back to the holo. Zekk and Jaina had their lightsabers in hand, alert to any danger. But they couldn't possibly know what Tellek had in store for them. Leia didn't know either, but she was sure it would be suitably cruel and sadistic. Leia also realized that she had to get out of Tellek's grasp right now, or she would lose any hope of living through the ordeal. If she could convince 

those few guards posted around the consoles to turn on Corzak and Tellek… 

Leia waited just a moment, until the two had turned their attention back to the holo. She would have to be quick, before Tellek could come down with a dark side punishment. Leia took a breath and then focused the Force into bright, probing strands. There were five guards, and Leia had plenty of manipulation for each of their minds if they were like most goons she had encountered. Wouldn't Tellek be surprised when her own loyal men decided to blast her. Leia closed her eyes and sent that very suggestion into the minds of the five men. _Tellek and Corzak are the enemy. Fry them!_ Nothing happened. She opened her eyes to Corzak's mocking grin. Leia was dumbfounded for a moment, and then she got it. "Droids?" Corzak gave her a silent round of applause. 

"Very good, Ambassador Solo." The holo console beeped, and red light blinked on above the projection. 

"They're at the halfway point," said Tellek, ignoring Leia's futile escape effort completely. "Are the mobile guards deployed? I don't want to make this too easy for them." Corzak nodded. 

"Everything is taken care of." Tellek smiled thinly. 

"Excellent. It will only be a matter of time now." They both chuckled. _A matter of time to what? _Leia wondered. Until they were all to be killed? Until Jaina was to be killed? Leia was running out of time to act. Her thoughts shifted onto a new track. If she couldn't use the numerous guards, she'd use Corzak himself, who probably had more deadly skill than all of the goons combined. One good mental push would be enough to get him to incapacitate Tellek while she wrested a weapon from one of the guards and got the hell out of there. It didn't matter if Tellek saw or felt what she was planning, it would be over before the dark side woman could do a thing. Leia locked eyes with Corzak and sent a wave of the Force into his mind, blinding whatever impulses or thoughts he had there. Corzak continued to stare steadily at her with his emerald orbs, only he now began to chuckle. Tellek's higher-pitched giggling joined it. 

"Really, Ambassador Solo, I expected better from you," she tittered. So Corzak was one too. Leia knew then that she was doomed. 

****

Jaina, Zekk and Devon walked across the floor of the crater, alert and watching. Jaina held her lightsaber loosely in her hand, and Devon had a small but efficient blaster. Jaina's sense of danger was growing stronger with every step. The dark side was strong here. She looked grimly ahead. The landscape was bleak and forbidding, and a harsh wind whipped through her hair. Jaina felt the same sensation she had experienced on Onderon. The feeling of being watched by someone…or something.

Suddenly, movement appeared on the horizon. Jaina squinted but couldn't tell if the motion represented a threat. She motioned the others behind one of the stone chimneys jutting from the ground, followed them to the scant cover and kept watching. Zekk's breath tickled her ear as he whispered, "This can't be good." Devon looked out from the other side of the rock, blaster ready. A high, hollow whine of engines permeated the air, and the specks racing across the crater floor resolved themselves into vehicles. Swoops. 

"Here we go again," said Jaina. 

****

Corzak looked up from a display screen at the edge of the holo. In the picture, Jaina and the others had taken cover behind a rock, waiting for the enemy to come to them. "Mobile troops will reach their target in thirty seconds," Corzak announced. Tellek floated over to the screen in her repulsor chair and studied the holo, almost with a look of anticipation. 

"Excellent," she said, smiling thinly. "Now, Ambassador Solo, we will see if your daughter lives up to the family reputation. You might want to watch this." 

****

Jaina watched the swoops grow larger, five of them, the driver's heads swiveling as they tried to locate the three invaders. "We should be blasting them about now!" said Devon. 

"Just wait," said Jaina sharply. A chunk of rock was blasted off the chimney at her shoulder, pounding chips into her arm. "Then again…" 

"Get down!" commanded Zekk, yanking her arm hard as the swoop riders fired again. More blaster bolts ricocheted off the rock, sending a rain of gravel onto Jaina's head. Devon popped out from behind their cover and fired back, but his aim wasn't great and his small weapon didn't have enough range. 

"How close are they?" Jaina shouted over the roar of engines growing near. 

"Close enough!" Devon screamed back as the blaster fire ate away more of the fragile sandstone. Their cover was rapidly becoming nonexistent. Jaina stuck her head around and quickly assessed the situation. The swoops were maybe ten meters away, hovering on their repulsors while the riders blasted away at the rock. Jaina ducked quickly back behind as they decided to blast away at her instead. 

"I think we have a problem!" she shouted to Zekk and Devon over the noise. 

"Gee, what gave you your first clue?" Zekk yelled at her. Jaina gave him her best caustic glare and then switched on her lightsaber. 

"What're you doing?" Zekk shouted. 

"Stay here!" Jaina commanded. "And be ready!" 

"Jaina—" Zekk took hold of her arm. Jaina thought he was going to try to stop her again, but then he said, "Be careful," in a voice so quiet Jaina barely heard. She nodded and flashed him a one-sided grin. Then she stood up, stepped out from behind the rock and in one fluid movement dropped out of the swoop rider's line of fire and rolled once, coming up in front of the rider in the middle of the line. Her lightsaber sliced down and cut off the stabilizers on the front of his swoop, and then up and cut off the hand that was holding his blaster. The man fell screaming off his swoop. The other four's eyes went wide. Devon began firing at them again, and, galvanized, they fired back, mostly at Jaina. She speedily deflected the bolts with her violet blade. The swoopers suddenly ignited their engines and looped away from her, flying in circles, trying to confuse her. Jaina kept focused ahead, but there was a buzz from behind, and she turned to see one of the riders bearing down on her fast. With a Force-aided leap she jumped over the forward stabilizers and onto his swoop, feet on the control panel of the speeding craft. The driver reared back in shock. Jaina sent her boot into his face, and he tumbled backwards off the craft, body cooked by the engine exhaust. "_Jaina!_" shouted Zekk. Jaina looked over her shoulder to see another rock chimney looming in front of the riderless swoop, and dove off just before the crash and explosion. Zekk stepped out from behind their rock, his lightsaber like a deadly flame. The three swoop riders left fired on the Jedi, but Jaina and Zekk, agreeing without words, deflected the bolts back at them in tandem, blowing the fuel tank of one swoop and hitting another rider in the chest. He fell off his craft and left it hovering, riderless. The remaining swooper circled away, heading back for the other side of the crater. They had won. Suddenly a blaster bolt came from behind Jaina, so close it singed the fabric of her flightsuit. 

"What—" she spun around. Devon Carn stepped out from behind the rock, blaster leveled at them, his face and eyes dead and expressionless. "I knew it," said Jaina. Devon's finger curled on the trigger for a perfectly aimed shot, and Jaina reflexively snapped her lightsaber up and deflected the bolt…so well that it was sent back along it's trajectory and pegged Devon in the chest. The shot knocked him against the rock, the blaster falling from his hand. "Oh, no," said Jaina with a tremble in her voice. "Zekk, I didn't mean to…" Devon lay at the base of the rock. Jaina went and knelt beside him. "Why, Devon?" she asked. The pilot's face was pale, his eyes shut. Then, as Jaina watched in horror, his body began to decompose. Burns appeared on his face and hands, a huge spot of crimson spread across his chest, and his legs were reduced to bloody twigs. Jaina jumped back, into Zekk, who had come up behind her. "What's _happening_ to him?" said Jaina in quiet alarm. 

"He looks like…like he was in a starship crash," said Zekk. Jaina realized that Devon did indeed.

"But, those burns, that wound on his chest, he should have died," she said. 

"I think he did," said Zekk quietly. Jaina shut her eyes as she realized that Devon Carn had been yet another pawn in the game. "The dark side brought him back to life," she said. "I've never heard of a dark Jedi with enough power to resurrect the dead." 

"I think we may be dealing with something a little more powerful than we bargained for," said Zekk. Jaina's face set determinedly. 

"The dark side has never gotten the best of my family, and I'm not about to change that," she said briefly. She turned away from Devon Carn's gruesome body and resumed the walk towards the dark Jedi's fortress. 

****

Tellek's face had grown into a picture of rage as Jaina and Zekk neatly dispatched the swoop riders and dealt with the other man's sudden betrayal. Leia couldn't resist crossing her arms smugly, until a guard jabbed her in the back with his blaster. Tellek turned her glare on Corzak, who spread his hands defensively. "It's not _my_ fault. I told you they were powerful." 

"If she's not in a weakened state," snapped Tellek, "our task will be much more difficult. I'm very disappointed, Corzak." Corzak pursed his lips, as if thinking to suggest where Tellek could put her disappointment, but instead he hit a comm switch on the edge of the control panel. 

"Perimeter guard, our…guests are almost to your location. Pull back and allow them to enter." In the holo, Jaina and Zekk had made it almost all the way across the crater floor, nearing the protective holograph in front of the fortress. Corzak turned to Leia, smiling once again. "Put Ambassador Solo in binders and a gag and leave her here." Tellek joined him in grinning. 

"We have a little surprise for our young Jedi," she said. 

****

Boba Fett came out of hyperspace over Flar. Mr. Dark and his confederates had had several days to do what he wished with Ambassador Solo. Now Boba Fett intended to ask for her back. He had the exact amount of her bounty in credit chips in a locked box, and he was once again relishing thoughts of revenge on Han Solo. He put the _Slave IV _on the memorized vector from his first meeting with Mr. Dark and he was about to enter Flar's atmosphere when a long-range sensor alarm sounded. Another small ship, coming out of hyperspace. Coming fast. Boba Fett read the ID profile and then actually let out a chuckle. He couldn't believe it. His prey had indeed come to him. 

Fett threw the _Slave_ _IV_ back in a bank towards the _Millennium Falcon_. His ship's guns powered up and with more relish than he could remember he prepared to fight. The _Falcon_, on seeing Fett's ship, immediately went into a backward loop to avoid fire. Then her superfast engines kicked in and she tried to make a run past Boba Fett to the planet. "No, Solo," said Fett. "Your concern lies with me now." He fired on the _Falcon_, a shot that ricocheted off its shields, and Solo's quad guns answered as he looped back to engage. Inside his helmet, Boba Fett smiled. 

****

Jaina and Zekk reached the opposite wall of the crater without further incident. Jaina scanned the featureless rock, and then walked forward. The holo fizzed as she passed through it. Zekk made a surprised noise, and then followed her. They were in a small canyon that had been made by the force of the meteor that had blasted out the crater. Durasteel beams and other construction equipment was stacked in neat piles on the ground, and several enormous labor droids were deactivated around the site. Jaina and Zekk stood in the superstructure of a building, beams rising high above their heads. The wind whistled into the canyon. Jaina shivered. A partially completed fortress-like building, built up and to both sides of the narrow canyon, was straight ahead. Jaina took her lightsaber in hand again. "Here goes nothing," she whispered. There was no need to keep her voice low, but Jaina felt like she had too. The dark side was all over this place, oozing from the rocks and the fortress walls. Jaina and Zekk walked forward silently to the small, blast-proof door that was set in the fortress wall. Jaina took a breath. The journey would end here, on this backwater world. Master Arca's prophecy was in her mind. _The dark heads will meet a shadow. You and you alone can defeat it._ Jaina banished her doubts, her worry, and her fear that she had acted rashly in not waiting for Luke and Mara. "Follow you own path. No one can choose it for you," she murmured, and hit the door release, not expecting it to open, but it rolled up soundlessly. Inside was complete darkness. Jaina stepped in. Zekk followed her. 

"I don't like this," he said in a low voice. "Even with the swoopers it's been way too easy." Jaina silently agreed with him, but she resolutely moved forward. They were in a large room, that much Jaina could see from the light in the door. It ceased to be of any help, however, when the door shut with a dull _thump_. Jaina jumped. 

"Zekk?" she whispered, feeling the first tingles in the Force, the dark side closing in densely. The blackness was heavy on her eyes. She felt Zekk take her hand. 

"Stay alert," he whispered intimately in her ear. They moved forward, Jaina using the Force to keep from running into things. Finally her outstretched hand touched a panel on the wall. She hit the switch, and low-lit glowpanels sprang to life all around the room. Zekk quickly dropped her hand. They were in the lower level of a war room. Jaina quickly scanned the ground level for any threat, stretching out with her feelings. She heard a noise from above, a sort of muffled _hmph_. Jaina motioned to Zekk, and silently they climbed the stairs to a circular platform around the huge strategy computer console. The top level of the room was also completely deserted. Except for…

"Mom!" shrieked Jaina. Leia was sitting in a repulsor chair, feet and hands in binders and a tight gag in her mouth. At the sight of Jaina, Leia began to shake her head frantically. Jaina went over and gently undid the gag, just in time to hear Leia's words. 

"Get out of here, Jaina! This is a trap!" Jaina nodded. 

"I know, Mom, we found out everything." Leia unlocked the binders on her hands with the Force.

"We have to go, _now_," she said, looking around the room worriedly. Jaina knelt down and undid the binders on Leia's feet. "Why did you come by yourself, Jaina?" asked Leia in what almost sounded like an irritated tone. "Didn't you have enough sense to wait for Luke, or your father, or Mara?" 

"I had to come," said Jaina simply. Leia flushed. She'd done it again, treating Jaina like she was six instead of sixteen. 

"It was very brave of you, honey," she said with real pride in her voice. Zekk was looking around nervously. They needed to go. 

"It was my destiny to come here," Jaina said as she started for the stairs.

"Quite right," said a voice from over her shoulder. Jaina spun around, almost knowing who the voice belonged to. It was the woman from her vision. The woman smiled. "We meet at last, little Jedi. Allow me to make introductions…I am Tellek." Jaina stood straight. 

"What an honor. I finally get to meet the person who's been trying—failing—to kill me." Tellek chuckled. 

"_Kill_ you? Oh no, little Jedi, you are _much_ too important to kill. We were merely testing you, and I must say you passed with flying colors." 

"I was right," said Jaina. "You set up the Onderon vandalism, came up with 'Corzak' and the Holocron in that cave." 

"Actually, you give me too much credit," said Tellek. "The Holocron was there, and I built on a fortunate coincidence." 

"So now what?" asked Jaina. 

"Why now," said Tellek, "your friend and mother die," Jaina saw Zekk stiffen, "and you become mine." Jaina felt relief wash through her. _That_ was the motive behind this most elaborate of plots? Jaina laughed. Laughed long and loud, right in Tellek's face. 

"_That's_ what you set all this up for? To turn me to the dark side?" Jaina smiled her cockiest one-sided smile. "I hate to tell you, lady, but that's already been tried." Tellek also smiled. 

"I had heard about your ego, Jaina, but I had yet to witness it. As for those other attempts to turn you …do you really think I am going to be such a fool as Brakiss?" 

"I don't know. _Are_ you a fool?" Jaina asked impudently. 

Tellek crossed the distance between them and slapped Jaina across the face, hard as she could. Jaina didn't flinch. 

Tellek's green eyes bored into her. "A strong spirit," she said. "Excellent." Jaina felt a subtle ripple in the Force. Zekk was trying to shepherd Leia out of the room, down to safety. "Oh, I wouldn't do that," said Tellek in a conversational tone, turning to the young man. Zekk suddenly went flying away from Leia, pulled by the dark side, and slammed painfully into the computer console. He gave a groan and fell to the floor. 

"Zekk…" Jaina felt a surge of white-hot anger towards Tellek. Tellek smiled in victory. 

****

"He's coming around for another pass, Chewie. Three point two!" Chewbacca rapidly flipped switches to target the _Slave IV_, while Han Solo twisted the controls of the _Falcon_ to stay out of the bounty hunter's fire. 

"Blast it, Jaina," Han muttered. "What've you gotten yourself into now?" Boba Fett zipped past the ship, his guns spewing red laser fire. The _Falcon_'s quads returned the salvo, tracking after the smaller ship. Chewbacca groaned a question and Han answered snappishly, "_No_, I _don't _know what he's doing here! Take a wild guess!" Chewie grunted in commiseration, but then groaned that they needed to land and find Jaina, not fool around with the bounty hunter. "Oh, sure, no problem!" said Han sarcastically as the ship was buffeted from behind. Han pulled the _Falcon _around in a loop and fired back at the _Slave IV_ again, muttering in triumph as the laser blasts scored hits on Boba Fett's forward stabilizers. Chewie groaned again. "Alright, alright, alright," said Han. "We're going down, pal, just give me a second." He did a corkscrew, then, as Boba Fett slowed to target them Han flipped the _Falcon _right side up and dove through Flar's upper atmosphere, leveling off and activating the sensor sweep, scanning the surface of the little planet. The sensors began beeping almost immediately. Flar was so dead and barren that any reading stood out like a signal flare. "There's the _Lonely Star_," said Han. "Hang on, Chewie." The _Slave IV_ was hot on their tail, spewing red death from all of its guns. Han looped and evaded, always keeping on course towards the _Lonely Star. _But Boba Fett was good, and he suddenly dropped altitude, dipping under the _Falcon_ and then popping up in front, forcing Han to curse and bank the ship back towards space. Fett now had a perfect shot at Han's engines. Chewie, even as he was re-targeting the bounty hunter's ship, gave Han a very uncomplimentary remark about his piloting. "Oh yeah?" said Han. "Watch this, furball." Han pulled the yoke out to its full extension, hit the thrusters, and killed the ship's rudder compensation. Free in the vacuum, the _Falcon_ did a backward loop…and another…and another. The freighter flipped backwards, end over end, almost out of control, Chewie howling out every curse and divine incantation he knew. And then Han pulled a simple aileron roll, coming out of the…horizontal corkscrew, he guessed it was called. Behind Boba Fett. "I still got it," Han grinned even though his hands shook as he kept the _Falcon_ on an even keel. Chewie fired with both quads, the shots impacting on Boba Fett's engine shielding. Both Chewie and Han made triumphant noises. "Better run, bounty hunter," said Han with a one-sided grin. Chewie gave his fiercest Wookie growl. Victory seemed imminent… Suddenly a deafeningly loud alarm screeched through the _Falcon_'s cockpit. Han and Chewie looked to port to see a huge battle cruiser coming around Flar's event horizon. "Now what the hell is _this_?" Han yelled as he pulled up before the cruiser. Chewie let out a roar, a combination of alarm and challenge, his big fingers flying over the controls. The battle cruiser was big, the size of a _Victory_-class Star Destroyer. It had deep carbon scores along the length of its hull, and several of the forward turbolasers were out, but the cruiser could still blow the _Falcon_ out of the sky and not think twice. And somehow Han didn't think it was there to offer them a military escort. "I have a bad feeling about this," he said just before the cruiser started shooting. 

****

A figure stepped into the room behind Tellek as she stood there gloating at Jaina. Corzak. Jaina turned on him. "I guess it's true what they say—gutter vrelts always come back to the nest." Corzak didn't seem perturbed by her insult. He walked casually over to Zekk and lifted the younger man up by the back of his flightsuit. Zekk fought feebly, but he was still stunned from his collision with the computer console. Corzak knocked his head once against the console, short and sharp, and Zekk slumped over, out cold. Leia's eyes flicked quickly between him, Jaina and Tellek, wondering what the next twist would be. 

"Now, little Jedi," said Tellek, "I have studied you, your brothers, your entire family. You are the key, yet I know it is useless to try and turn you to our side by force. Your will is much to strong." 

"I guess that kind of leaves you high and dry then," said Jaina smugly. Tellek smiled that disturbing smile again. 

"Far from it. It simply means I will have to find…alternate ways to persuade you." She turned to Leia with a chuckle. "So sad, you have come all this way to rescue your mother, and yet you were too late to save her." 

"What—" began Jaina. Tellek clenched her fist. Leia let out a strangled cry, which was abruptly cut off. Jaina saw the muscles of her throat straining to work as her windpipe closed. She felt her mother fight the choke, meeting with no success. Tellek seemed capable of applying more dark power than Jaina had ever seen without so much as a thought. As the choke persisted, Leia's fists clenched and a blue border appeared around her lips as she fought for oxygen. Jaina felt her anger growing like a wildfire inside her. "Stop!" she cried. "Stop it now!" 

"Me stop?" inquired Tellek calmly. "Why, you did this to your mother yourself, by your stubborn refusal to help her." Jaina gritted her teeth in rage. Leia's face was paling rapidly, her struggles becoming weaker. Jaina turned back and forth between her and the woman, torment playing across her face. As a trickle of blood leaked from Leia's nose and she began to sink towards the ground, she caught her daughter's eye and shook her head. The meaning was clear: _This is the only way._ Jaina shook her head. 

"No," she said, a new note of menace in her voice. "_No!_" Leia was not going to die, not here, not this way. Jaina's rage broke free, her lightsaber flashed on and she leapt at Tellek. "_I said STOP_!" she yelled. Tellek sidestepped Jaina's attack almost casually, and sent a bolt of purple Force lightning at the young woman. Jaina deflected it with her blade, the shock vibrating up her arms, the lightning crackling around the saber. It was a stronger blast than any Jaina had ever encountered. She stepped back to gather her concentration. It was a mistake. Jaina's arms froze. She felt the dark side pressing on her mind, suffocating, just like she remembered. Jaina struggled, couldn't move her arms for the life of her. Her lightsaber was pointed harmlessly at the floor. Tellek laughed nastily. 

"If you want to fight, little Jedi, you know there is only one way to victory." 

"I know your way. I'll never turn," gritted Jaina as she felt the chokehold creep around her throat. "Never…never…" she couldn't speak. She locked eyes with Tellek, fighting with every ounce of power she possessed. A tiny corner of her mind cried out that her anger was weakening her, she had to remain calm and focused… Out of the corner of her eye she saw Zekk raise his head a tiny bit, assess the situation, and then put his head back down. His hand crept across the floor, found his lightsaber. Jaina kept her eyes locked with Tellek's, doing her bit to distract the woman, although dark whorls were beginning to spin on her vision and she stumbled to her knees she fought for oxygen. All of her ability seemed like a grain of sand to Tellek's vast boulder. Jaina was up against a power she couldn't defeat, and she knew it. She also knew she was going to die, which filled her with sadness, but not fear. _A Jedi is never afraid to die_, she recited silently. But she had to get Zekk and her mother out of here safely first. 

Zekk's hand was now closed around his weapon, ready for action, but the ever-vigilant Corzak saw Zekk's movement and moved to the dark-haired Jedi to deliver a vicious punishment. Zekk jumped agilely to his feet, lightsaber hissing to life. Corzak shifted liquidly to a fighting stance, his expression amused. Zekk slashed and Corzak dodged with his droid speed. Even Tellek was distracted, momentarily relaxing her hold, and Jaina, seeing a ray of hope, threw off her power and jumped up, lightsaber at the ready. Zekk came at Corzak again, but his movements held hesitancy. The specter of his dead brother was still strong. "What's the matter?" asked Corzak in a taunting tone. "Can't quite live up to the standards of a _light_ Jedi…little brother?" Jaina's breath caught. Zekk's past was always a hot button, one of the few things guaranteed to ignite his explosive temper. Zekk's eyes narrowed dangerously. 

"Maybe not," he said, "but I can still defeat a _machine_." An expression of real anger came onto Corzak's face. He had his hot buttons, too. He came for Zekk, spinning in a hard and devastating kick. Zekk ducked aside, Corzak's foot glancing off his shoulder. The two faced each other for an instant…and then Zekk's blade came down. Corzak's master servomotor and droid brain sparked for a moment as they were cleaved in two, and then the droid replica of Zekk's brother toppled over, scattering components across the floor. Zekk switched off his lightsaber, his mind in the past as the life light flickered out of the HRD's eyes. 

"Very impressive, young man," said Tellek, who had watched the fight with interest. She turned on Zekk and Leia again. Jaina felt her gather her power for a devastating blast. 

"Zekk, Mom, go!" she shouted. Zekk grabbed Leia's arm and pushed her behind him, towards the stairs. Leia resisted. 

"Jaina, no, you can't—" she said, frantic.

"_Go!_" commanded Zekk, pushing the petite ambassador again. Jaina stood her ground before Tellek. Tellek sent a blast of lightning towards Zekk and Leia, perhaps seeing her bargaining chips escaping. Jaina barely jumped in and blocked it with her lightsaber. Tellek glared at her. 

"Alright, little Jedi. If it has come to that…" she smiled, a smile that this time was neither mocking nor victorious, but utterly chilling. "If it has come to that," Tellek repeated, "so be it." Jaina's face didn't change from her expression of absolute anticipation. She was with the Force, totally focused on the battle. Zekk looked back at Jaina, standing tall with her lightsaber, just once before he hurried Leia, down the stairs towards escape. 

****

Outside the fortress Leia once again tried to break free of Zekk's grasp. "We can't leave her!" 

"_I'm_ not going too," said Zekk. "Ambassador Solo—Leia, you can't risk your life. The galaxy needs you. You have to get out of here." Leia looked up at him. 

"The galaxy needs the Jedi too, Zekk. You, Jaina, every one of them. I'm not leaving you. Or Jaina!" Zekk gripped both of her arms. 

"Leia, please, I promise Jaina won't be hurt. Go back to the _Lonely Star_, call whoever you know that can send reinforcements. I'm going to look after Jaina. Please, don't get all of us killed." Leia took a deep breath. It was easy to see why Jaina had fallen for this kid. 

"You're right, Zekk," she said finally. "But you and Jaina can't win against Tellek by yourself." Zekk's green eyes looked grim. 

"Maybe not, but I'm sure as hell going to try. Jaina's a great Jedi, better than I could ever hope to be, but…" He looked down. "She saved me. I owe her. And if I pay by dying so she can live…" he sighed. "Then I will have fulfilled my destiny." Leia bit her lip, wondering at this reserved young man who was willing to sacrifice everything for Jaina's sake. 

"You're a good person, Zekk," was all she said. "And you're more of a Jedi than some Knights could ever wish to be. May the Force be with you." She turned and ran towards the crater and the _Lonely Star_, leaving Zekk alone. 

****

Jaina and Tellek circled each other in a dance to the death. "Brave and very foolish, little Jedi," said Tellek. "But if you wish to be a martyr, well then I'm happy to oblige." Tellek raised her hands in an all-too-familiar gesture. Jaina saw it coming, but the blast of Force lightning Tellek released was like a tidal wave. The energy bolts knocked her lightsaber aside and caught Jaina full in the chest, throwing her backwards into a wall. Jaina bit down hard to keep from screaming. Every atom of her body cried out with pain. She grasped the edge of a nearby console and tried to stand, but couldn't. She couldn't breath, couldn't see…_get a grip on yourself, Solo!_ her mind shouted. She managed to draw in a breath, only with a horrible sucking sound from her lungs. This was it, this was what death must feel like. And yet Jaina's Solo stubbornness, so long the bane of her parents and friends, kept her from giving in to the pain. If she was going to die today, it would be on her own terms. 

Jaina spotted her lightsaber on the floor a few meters away, glowing serenely. She couldn't reach out, lest Tellek hit her again. "Oh, poor little Jedi," said Tellek, surveying Jaina, who had a broad fan of blackened cloth across the front of her flightsuit, and scorched skin beneath it. "You are so arrogant to think that the light side can defeat all evil simply by virtue." Jaina heard her words from far away, but slowly she was beginning to regain control over her breath and body. Tellek squatted on her heels and stuck her face close to Jaina's. "We are more powerful than you could possibly imagine, little Jedi." 

"W-we?" said Jaina weakly. Tellek nodded. "W-who's we?" Jaina asked. The pain was fading. 

"All those dark Jedi throughout the ages," said Tellek. "All the defeated ones, the strong ones who didn't turn at the end, where do you think their power goes?" Jaina swallowed, gripping the console again. This close, Tellek was a thing of nightmares, her eyes almost glowing. "Where do you think?" she persisted.

"To hell, with the rest of them?" said Jaina in as righteous a voice as she could muster. Tellek shook her head in disapproval. 

"So defiant. No, you're very wrong. The power is put back into the universe. It becomes part of the shadow side. But one day the shadow side took a form…and it is here." 

A presence floated up from Tellek's body. It was dark and oily, a huge shadow. The thing from Jaina's vision. The shadow grew and grew, pushing at the ceiling of the war room. It was filled with the dark side, _made_ of it. And then Jaina knew. _It_ was the source of this great power, not Tellek. A being composed of the dark side of the Force, that had been waiting for who knew how many millennia, fed on the energies of dead dark Jedi, waiting for the right time to return. As Jaina looked into the shadow's fathomless depths, she felt stirrings of fear at the very core of her soul. And knew for the first time that Tellek's words were true. The shadow's words. As Jaina made her decision, she couldn't help hearing Master Arca's words…_if you take the quick and easy path, the dark heads will win and lose. Beware._

****

The battle cruiser fired on the _Falcon_ with everything it had, turbolaser blasts filling space, along with Boba Fett's blaster cannon fire. Han was cursing in every language he knew over the wailing cockpit alarms when one of the cruiser's wild shots spanged off the _Slave IV_'s shields. Almost immediately, Boba Fett turned the full brunt of his attack on the cruiser, touchy son of a vrelt he was. "Well, now they done it," observed Han to Chewie. He slowed the _Falcon_ as the cruiser ceased firing on it to watch. 

The _Slave IV_ blasted relentlessly at the bigger ship, but the cruiser was giving as good as it got, and Fett was taking hits. "They might just do our job for us—_flame it!_" Han cried as a turbolaser blast knocked the _Slave IV _for a loop and the cruiser returned its unwanted attention to the _Falcon_. The comm crackled. 

"_Millennium Falcon,_ it seems we have a common enemy. I would appreciate your assistance," said Fett's harsh voice. Han and Chewbacca traded incredulous looks. 

"He has to be kidding," said Han. He moved to flick the comm switch for a retort. Chewie moaned softly as another shot reached their ship. "What are you talkin' about, furball?" cried Han in exasperation. "We don't need his help!" The _Falcon_'s portside shield indicator died. Han hit the control panel in frustration. "I can't _believe_ I'm doing this," he muttered as he looped the ship around to flank the _Slave IV_. He spoke shortly into the comm. "Fett, see if you can get a torpedo off at those shield generators. I'll fly cover." 

"As you wish, Solo," said Boba Fett. Han took a small measure of satisfaction in knowing how it must grate on Fett to say those four words. The _Slave IV_ rolled to avoid fire, and Chewie targeted the turbolasers on the cruiser. The _Falcon_'s quads spoke, and two of the emplacements disappeared in balls of fire. Fett lined up and perfect shot, and the silver flash of a torpedo streaked out from his ship. It impacted with the shield generators on top of the bridge, and they exploded concussively. The cruiser was already turning to flee, but the _Slave IV_ gave chase, letting off another missile into its now-vulnerable engines. The brilliant blast filled the canopy of the _Falcon_ as the flames overtook the entire cruiser, blowing shrapnel out in all directions. As the fireball vanished in the vacuum, amid Chewie's triumphant howls, a voice that was music to Han's ears came over the comm. 

"All New Republic ships, this is Ambassador Leia Organa Solo. I have a code red situation at planetary coordinates will transmit. Repeat, this is New Republic Ambassador Leia Organa Solo with a code red situation on Flar." Han hit the switch. 

"Leia!" She gasped. 

"Han! Han, what are you doing here?" 

"Long story, sweetheart. Is Jaina okay?" Her silence was answer enough. _Flame it_, Han thought for the five millionth time in the last two days. "Are you safe?" he asked Leia tensely. 

"Yes, I'm in the _Lonely Star_. Han, please hurry." Her voice held a note of real panic. Han was already banking the _Falcon_ towards Flar. 

"On my way," he said. "Everything will turn out alright, you'll see." He looked at the comm speaker, wishing he was already with her. "I love you, Leia." He could almost picture her face as she spoke. 

"I know, Han. I know." 

****

"Well, little Jedi?" said Tellek. "Do you still wish to fight both of us?" 

"You haven't seen anything yet," said Jaina. She brought her foot up, slammed it into Tellek's stomach hard. Tellek fell back and Jaina stood up, rage in her eyes. From the floor Tellek smiled through her pain. 

"You are turning, little Jedi, even as we speak." Jaina stood over her. 

"I have a name," she growled. Her lightsaber flew to her hand. "Jaina Solo. Remember it. I'm your executioner." 

There were pounding steps on the stairs and Jaina turned to see Zekk, lightsaber in hand. He saw her, the look in her eyes. He knew the terrible choice she had made. 

"Oh no, Jaina." 

"Zekk, leave," said Jaina calmly. "I have this under control. This is my destiny." She wondered ever as she spoke the words if it really was…then pushed the thought away. Jaina turned and advanced on Tellek, who crawled backwards like an insect, still on the floor. 

"You wouldn't kill an unarmed opponent, would you?" she gloated. Jaina felt the rage surge again. It felt so wrong…and at the same time so exhilarating. 

"Watch me," she said. 

"Jaina, _you can't do this!_" Zekk shouted. Jaina turned a level gaze on him. 

"This is the only way, Zekk. She was right. They are too powerful for the light." And, with Zekk's cry of agony, Jaina gave in to the dark side. 

It was power such as she had never known. Jaina's anger was a match for the dark thing that inhabited Tellek. She had a chance to live, to fight and win. Jaina gathered her power, so much easier to do now, and sent a blast of Force lightning at Tellek's prone form. The woman screamed as the energy hit her. "How does it feel?" inquired Jaina. "Not so nice when it's done to you, hmm?" She pointed her lightsaber at Tellek like a spear, focusing the surging dark energy through it, the power in her growing and growing. Peripherally, Jaina noticed that the huge shadow filled the room more and more as her lightsaber turned a deep, royal purple as the very polymers of her crystals were mutated by the dark side. The tip of the weapon began to glow, growing brighter and brighter. Jaina forgot the countless words of warning, forgot the teachings of Tionne and Mara and her uncle, forgot everything and felt nothing but the power that raged in her mind, and the knowledge that she could win. She could grow more powerful that this shadow. Jaina's face set in a grim smile. It was all too easy. 

"Jaina, stop! Please, before it's too late!" Zekk cried. Jaina didn't look at him. Zekk could feel the dark power in her, knew the elation that it brought. Tears blurring his eyes, he came to a decision. "Jaina." Her name was spoken with such power that she turned her head to look at him. Zekk deactivated his lightsaber and stood with the calm of one who has chosen the right path, but his face still held a trace of pain at what he had to do. He understood now what Jaina must have felt when she faced him those years ago on Yavin 4, the torment that had precluded her decision not to fight him. 

"What is it now, Zekk?" Jaina snapped impatiently. Zekk breathed in, out.

"The dark side almost destroyed me, and I'm not going to let it destroy you," he said. And then, softly and sadly, "I'm sorry Jaina. I wish there was another way." Jaina felt Zekk's light power gather, bright, blinding, and purifying. It knocked her off her feet, and the power she had focused into her lightsaber discharged towards the ceiling, blowing a hole in it. Letting in the light. 

****

Jaina opened her eyes with effort. She was lying on her back in a strange place. The war room, Tellek, and Zekk had all vanished. Blackness stretched in all directions. Jaina got to her feet and looked around. No one. "Where am I?" she asked softly. 

"You are with the Force, young Jedi," said a gravelly voice from behind her. Jaina turned and saw Master Arca standing serenely. Jaina pursed her lips at the sight of him, in no mood for another lecture. 

"Why did Zekk do that?" she muttered more to herself than to Arca. "I had everything under control. I was _winning_." 

"You may have thought so, Jaina," said Arca. "But I think you know that victory is never the most important thing." His black eyes narrowed. "And I also think you know the dark side brings only suffering." 

"I didn't _turn_," said Jaina impatiently. "That was the only way to defeat that woman, and that…shadow. Don't you see?" 

"The dark side is never the only way," said Arca softly. In her heart of hearts, Jaina's doubts surfaced again. But all she did was give Master Arca a contemptuous look. He sighed. "Please, Jaina, take the advice of an old Jedi Master. The dark side is quick, easier, and—"

"More seductive, I know," said Jaina in a bored tone. She saw that had been a mistake. Arca frowned mightily at her, his face taking on a fierce and primal expression. 

"You think you know the dark side?" Arca asked her sharply. "You, who have so little experience in the way of the Jedi. You are starting down a dark path, and even now it may be too late to change your course. I know you think I am an old, dead, foolish being, but I have seen firsthand the seduction of a trainee much like you." Arca's face was pained. "He was the most talented student I had ever trained, or seen trained. But he chose the dark side for almost the same reason as you…to save the people he loved. And it destroyed him." Arca fell silent. Jaina couldn't meet his eyes. "His spirit and his will were not as strong as yours," said Arca. "That is why your choice need not be final." Jaina had been beginning to see Master Arca's point of view, but with the return of the authoritative tone she balked. 

"You're right!" she yelled at him. "I did make a choice! My choice! And no one is going to change that, especially not _you_!" The last word was hissed, full of hate. Jaina took a breath in, got a hold on herself. She hadn't turned. She wasn't going to give in to spates of rage that would show she wasn't in control, that the dark side had seduced her. 

"We must all believe what we believe, young Jedi," said Arca, his tone no longer sad, angry, or pleading. "But I urge you to consider the path you have chosen very carefully. It could lead to your doom." Jaina turned away from him. She had chosen…but she knew she hadn't chosen the right path. Doubt grew large in her mind. _You and you alone can defeat the shadow…_ But this couldn't be the way. 

And as if it had been summoned by her thoughts, the shadow appeared in front of her. Jaina swallowed and walked forward to meet it. 

__

Welcome. It didn't speak aloud, but Jaina could feel the strands of the dark side moving through her mind. 

"You haven't turned me," said Jaina, but even as she spoke the anger and defiance were evident in her words. The shadow's chuckle tickled her mind. 

__

We will see. 

"Tellek is done. My mother is calling down every ship in the New Republic, and your droid soldiers are as good as slagged," said Jaina. "Once my uncle and aunt get here you're finished. Give it up." The shadow grew even darker. 

__

How dare you speak to me that way, insolent Jedi? I am more powerful than any of you could possibly imagine. Jaina took a step backwards. She couldn't wait for Luke and Mara. That had been sheer bravado. _You're alone on this one, Solo,_ she thought. The first shiver of fear went through her, but she spoke. 

"Evil will never win." The shadow's tone was logical and dissecting. 

__

But you yourself are of the dark side now, it reminded her. _Do you really think your family and friends will receive you with open arms after what you did?_ Jaina paused. That was true, too true. _You will be an outcast. The dark side will be your only friend. _

"I…don't believe that," said Jaina, but she knew in a rush, in her truest heart that she did. She had committed the worst sin of a Jedi Knight. She had turned to evil. 

She had taken the quick and easy path. 

Jaina felt a wetness on her cheek, and tasted a tear. How could her family ever love her again, how could she look Tenel Ka, Lowbacca, Raynar and Lusa in the eye? How could she face Zekk? 

__

Come with me, little Jedi. The shadow caressed her brain with a saving darkness. Jaina wanted nothing more than to lose herself in it forever. _We can join, and eclipse the light like a dusky moon. _Jaina closed her eyes, walking forward, giving herself to the darkness._ We can kill the light Jedi together. _Jaina stopped walking. 

"Wait…kill? Kill the light Jedi?" 

__

They cannot live, as surely as light cannot live in shadow. The Jedi Master, the Skywalker heirs, the Knights, they must all be exterminated. 

"You mean kill my family," Jaina breathed in horror. The utter abomination of the shadow's statement broke Jaina's mind free. She saw what had happened, saw the seduction she had given into. And knew, no matter what, that she was going to fight. Fight with the Force. Like a Jedi. 

She felt the dark side in her like a foul contamination. She faced the shadow boldly. "Arca was right. About everything." The shadow heard her hard new tone. 

__

Wait, young Jedi, the dark has so much to offer…

"Pain and suffering," spat Jaina, "and betrayal. Maybe I did go to the dark side, but I can see enough to know that I'll find only pain and fear. And if my family won't have me back…" She raised her chin. "Well then, that's something no one can help me with. Not you. And not the dark side." 

The shadow cackled. _Noble words, little Jedi. But tell me…just how do you plan to escape from this place? I would kill you before you could take a breath. _Jaina's brown eyes gazed into the deepest reaches of the shadow. 

"I wonder," she said, "if you would. I'm a key piece in your puzzle. You need me, that much is clear." Jaina straightened her shoulders, her mouth curving into a very knowing one-sided smile. "You won't kill me. You _can't_ kill me. I," she spoke in a voice she had never used before, completely calm and at peace, "am not afraid of you." And with that, Jaina turned and walked away towards the infinite reaches of the Force. The hissed comment came over her shoulder. 

__

We will meet again.

****

Epilogue

****

Someone slapped Jaina's face lightly. "Jaina?" It was Zekk's voice. "Jaina, please don't do this to me." Jaina's eyes fluttered, but she was so tired… Zekk stroked her cheek. "Jaina, you have to come back. I…I have something I need to tell you. Something I should have told you a long time ago." He took in a shaky breath, and then his voice went soft. "Jaina, I… I love you, Jaina." Jaina felt her eyes flicker open. 

"Zekk," she said. Zekk was kneeling over her prone body, his face streaked with tears. Relief lit his eyes as she looked up at him. "Zekk, I'm okay," said Jaina, feeling her own tears start. "Everything is okay." Zekk didn't say anything, just held her in his arms until Leia, Han and Chewbacca burst into the war room. 

"So you're sure you're okay to do this?" Han asked as Jaina and Zekk stood at the bottom of the _Lonely Star_'s ramp, preparing to leave. 

"Yes, Dad," said Jaina for the fifth time. "I'm fine, just a little burned." 

"And you can pilot the ship alright?" asked Han anxiously. Jaina gave him a one-sided grin, but then nodded seriously. 

"I'll be okay, Dad," she said, laying a hand on his arm. Han looked at his daughter, grown into a beautiful, confident young woman who reminded him so much of himself, and nodded at last. Father and daughter communicated without words, and Han suddenly felt old.

Leia, looking worse for wear but with a joyous smile on her face at being reunited with Han and Jaina, gave her daughter a tight embrace, Chewbacca and Han joining in. Soon Jaina was in the middle of an enthusiastic group hug. 

"You saved the day, honey," said Leia. 

"Taking after your dad," said Han. Chewie chuffed a laugh. The three moved back as Zekk laid his hand lightly on Jaina's shoulder. She turned to face him. 

"There's something I need to do before we go," said Zekk. "I'm sorry it's a little late, but I hope I can make it up." Before Jaina could inquire Zekk pulled her into his arms and kissed her. 

Jaina felt as if she'd been waiting for the moment all her life. She kissed Zekk in turn, and the two of them clung to each other for a long moment. Chewie groaned softly, and Leia hid a smile behind her hand. 

"Uh, guys, you wanna consider breathing?" asked Han finally. Leia took his arm firmly and guided him towards the _Falcon_. Jaina and Zekk pulled apart finally, and Jaina, with a businesslike gesture, brushed her hair back and went up the ramp to the _Lonely Star_'s cockpit. 

"Ready?" she called to Zekk. 

"Ready as I can ever be around you," he chuckled. The _Star_'s repulsors lifted the ship away from Flar's ground, and the darkness it held, following the _Millennium Falcon._ But the shadow would stay with Jaina forever, in her nightmares of her time on the dark side. She knew that. This evil was far from defeated, and she had almost aided it. As the _Star_ broke Flar's atmosphere and screamed into hyperspace, the shadow's last words rang in Jaina's ears. 

__

We will meet again.

TO BE CONCLUDED…


End file.
